By Arsheeya Bajwa

NOIDA, Sept 11 (Reuters) - NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI )

will invest over $1 billion in India, doubling its research and

development efforts, the Dutch company's CEO said on Wednesday,

joining global names doubling down on a country looking to

establish its presence in the industry.

"NXP is committed to double its R&D efforts here in the

country in the next few years, which is far in excess of a

billion dollars," CEO Kurt Sievers said at Semicon India

conference near New Delhi.

He said the company is in talks with the automotive sector

and other industries in the country, where it has four

semiconductor design centers, with about 3,000 employees.

Though chipmaking is still at a nascent stage in India, it

is a crucial element of its economic strategy, with a $10

billion incentive package allocated to bolster efforts to rival

global chipmaking powerhouses like Taiwan. India expects its

semiconductor market to be worth $63 billion by 2026.

Major players like Nvidia ( NVDA ) and AMD have

established substantial research and design centers in the

country, underscoring its rising importance in the global

ecosystem that is aiming to reduce its reliance on hubs like

China and Taiwan.

In February, India gave the go-ahead to construct three

semiconductor plants worth 1.26 trillion rupees ($15 billion) to

firms including Tata Group and CG Power, as the country pursues

its goal of becoming an electronics powerhouse.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said last year that the

U.S. memory chip maker's planned $2.7 billion testing and

packaging unit in Gujarat would help create about 5,000 jobs in

the state.

Chipmaking equipment vendor Applied Materials ( AMAT ) said

in June last year that it would invest $400 million over four

years in a new engineering center in India.

NXP, in July, posted its worst quarterly revenue decline in

four years and forecast third-quarter revenue below estimates,

stoking demand concerns for automotive chips.

($1 = 83.9480 Indian rupees)