Starbucks picks Chennai for first India GCC; Building a Wi-Fi software powerhouse
Starbucks Coffee Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Anand Varadarajan said the availability of skilled talent in Chennai and lower attrition rates were among the factors that influenced the company’s decision to establish the GCC in Tamil Nadu.
Global coffee giant Starbucks has announced plans to establish its first Global Capability Centre (GCC) in Chennai, India. The standalone entity, operated independently from Starbucks' retail joint venture with Tata Consumer Products, is expected to generate 800 new jobs. CTO Anand Varadarajan cited Chennai's availability of skilled talent and lower attrition rates as key factors influencing the decision.
GCCs in India have evolved from basic back-office support hubs to core innovation centers managing comprehensive global functions. In connected hardware, Silicon Valley veteran Rajesh Subramaniam's Chennai-based embedded software company, embedUR Systems, has grown to nearly 500 employees, with global chipmakers relying on its code.
Subramaniam recently spun off ModelNova, focusing on a licensing model for lightweight on-device AI algorithms for industrial, medical, and consumer devices. The founder pledged a Rs 500 crore investment over five years to Tamil Nadu for scaling R&D, expanding ModelNova, and establishing curriculum partnerships with local engineering colleges.
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