On the first leg of his US visit to scout for mega investments, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that reputed global tech giants have inked deals worth Rs 900 crore on the very first day of his meeting with industry captains at San Francisco.

The deals signed at Silicon Valley will generate 4,100 jobs across the state, the chief minister said in an X post. Companies, including the Finnish telecom giant Nokia, PayPal, and Microchip among others, are all set to start new plants. Of this, Nokia is to set up its world’s largest fixed network test bed at a cost of Rs 450 crore near Chengalpattu, adjoining Chennai, which will change the technology landscape. It will spearhead Nokia’s high-speed internet access in 10 gigabit (G), 25 (G), 50 (G) and 100 (G) passive optical networks.

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Stalin, who is on a fortnight-long tour, said, “The first day in San Francisco has set a promising tone for the days to follow! We have secured investments exceeding Rs 900 crore in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Chengalpattu, paving the way for 4,100 jobs.” With two more weeks ahead, he hoped that the momentum would continue to attract more investments, propelling the state’s march towards a trillion-dollar economy.

While the proposed largest R&D lab of Nokia will provide 100 jobs, PayPal will generate 1000 jobs. With a Rs 250-crore investment Microchip will provide 1,500 jobs, and Yield Engineering Systems is investing Rs 150 crore to generate 300 jobs. Infinix Systems will invest Rs 50 crore with a potential for 500 jobs and Applied Materials will create 500 jobs.

PayPal’s advanced AI Development Centre coming up in Chennai while Yield Engineering’s semi-conductor product development and manufacturing centre will come up at Sulur near Coimbatore. Microchip’s R&D centre will be established at Semmancherry, on the outskirts of Chennai while Infinix will have its global delivery system at Vdapazhanji near Madurai. Applied Materials will set up its AI-enabled semi-conductor equipment manufacturing hub in Chennai.

At the meeting with the captains of industry, Stalin described Tamil Nadu as the ideal destination in the whole of South Asia for investment and will roll out a red carpet to industries.