India, Sept. 24 -- Sandisk is putting more weight behind its India operations as the country takes on a larger role in the company's global product development network. The company is investing around USD 200 million annually in R&D in India, after nearly USD 2 billion of investment over the past decade.

The shift is significant because India is no longer being positioned only around manufacturing. Sandisk's local teams are increasingly involved in product architecture, design and low-volume manufacturing, giving the country a wider role across the product cycle.

Sandisk has around 3,000 engineers in India, compared with roughly 7,000 to 8,000 globally. That puts India at around 25-30% of its worldwide engineering workforce.

The India ...