Quest Global, the world’s largest independent pure-play engineering services firm backed by Carlyle Group, has acquired Bengaluru-headquartered semiconductor design specialist BITSILICA to fortify its end-to-end capabilities from concept-to-silicon-to-software, serving clients across automotive, AI, IoT, mobile, wireless and memory sectors. The transaction—financial terms undisclosed—integrates BITSILICA’s 500+ engineers across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Singapore and Malaysia, enhancing Quest’s design verification prowess amid surging demand for complex chip architectures.
Founded in 2019, BITSILICA delivers ASIC design, verification, physical design, DFT and embedded software, with design verification as core strength (functional/formal, gate-level simulation, power-aware, validation/emulation). The acquisition accelerates Quest’s semiconductor stack, complementing prior buys like Synapse Design (2021) and Alpha-Numero (2025), positioning it as full-lifecycle partner for automotive semis where reliability is mission-critical.
Strategic Fit in Semiconductor Boom
Ajit Prabhu, Quest Global Co-founder & CEO, hailed the cultural alignment: “We share a passion for solving clients’ hardest engineering problems. Together, we deliver on semiconductor challenges uniquely.” Bhaskar Kakani, BITSILICA Co-founder & CEO, called it a “growth milestone,” leveraging Quest’s 25+ years, 22,000 employees and 93 global centres for scale.
Quest—operating in 18 countries across aerospace, automotive, energy, hi-tech, medtech, rail and semis—targets chipmakers navigating 3nm/2nm nodes, heterogeneous integration and AI accelerators. BITSILICA’s DV expertise addresses verification bottlenecks consuming 50-70% of design cycles, critical for automotive safety (ISO 26262) and AI edge inference.
India’s Semiconductor Services Ascendancy
The deal underscores India’s VLSI dominance: $5B+ services exports 2025, 20% CAGR to $20B by 2030 per NASSCOM. Quest/BITSILICA synergy taps global shortages (TSMC/Samsung capacity booked 2+ years) and India Semicon Mission’s $10B incentives.
As US/China tensions drive supply chain diversification, Quest Global emerges as neutral execution hub blending India talent with Singapore HQ and US/EU delivery. The acquisition signals consolidation: engineering services evolve from outsourcing to strategic IP co-creation amid $1T global semi capex wave.
