Sasken: From Project-Based Services to a Silicon Royalty Flywheel

Hitesh Kumar of Kosha Capital Advisors presented his in-depth investment thesis on Sasken Technologies (India: SASKEN) at Asian Investing Summit 2026.

Thesis summary:

Sasken is a ~$200 million market cap Indian embedded engineering firm with a 30-year heritage turning silicon into intelligent devices. Hitesh frames it as a turnaround building a differentiated “Chip-to-Device” platform — spanning silicon design, embedded software, OS/platform, and device ODM — a combination no Indian ER&D peer matches. The business has absorbed multiple platform cycles (TI OMAP, Symbian, semiconductor consolidation) by investing in R&D and won a Rs 2.76 Bn IP arbitration in FY16. FY26E revenue of Rs 6,980 Mn (+27% YoY) brings organic scale back to the FY09 peak, now on a more diversified book.

The 60x4x3 strategy — grow 60 marquee accounts to $4M+ revenue each within three years — is reshaping the customer mix. Top 2 customer concentration has fallen from 50% in FY09 to 17% in FY25, while $4M+ accounts rose from 1 to 5. Headcount grew 54% between Q2 FY24 and Q3 FY26, temporarily compressing EBITDA margins from 27% to sub-5%; the latest quarters show recovery to 12–17% as utilization normalizes toward 80%.

Two acquisitions totaling ~Rs 400 Cr over 18 months completed the stack. Sasken Silicon (60% for Rs 33 Cr in FY24, led by ex-Qualcomm engineer Dr. Anup Savla) adds custom ASIC, RF/mmWave, and power-management IC capabilities with TSMC/GlobalFoundries/UMC foundry ties. BORQS Technologies ($40M, FY25) contributes end-to-end Android ODM, 130+ patents, and a 200+ member Qualcomm ODC. Combined with Sasken’s existing 100+ member Qualcomm ODC, the merged team engineers >85% of Qualcomm’s chipsets, positioning Sasken to ride Qualcomm’s $45 Bn SDV design-win pipeline, NTN satellite, IoT, and XR.

Corporate governance reads like a large-cap: 75% independent board, fully independent audit committee, zero audit qualifications across FY03–FY25, and a 20-year uninterrupted dividend with ~80% of the FY16 IP windfall returned to owners. Rs 300+ Cr of cash (~15% of market cap) provides downside protection.

The shares recently traded at ~30x FY26E P/E, a depressed-earnings year. On conservative FY28E assumptions — $150M revenue (only 11% CAGR versus recent 30–35% organic growth), services EBITDA at the low end of 14–17% management guidance, and no new ODM wins — EBIT could re-rate 3–4x and ROE (ex-cash) from 3% to ~24%. That implies ~12x FY28E P/E, ~7x EV/EBITDA, and 2.0x P/B versus peer medians of ~20x, ~13x, and 5.8x — a 40–65% discount for a business with visible order-book conversion, Qualcomm entrenchment, and tier-1 governance.

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About the instructor:

Hitesh (Jain) Kumar is a seasoned investor and CFA Charterholder with nearly two decades of experience in the financial and technology sectors. After a decade in corporate roles — including software engineering at Sasken Technologies, credit ratings at CRISIL, and global infrastructure investments at a $150 million hedge fund — he transitioned to fund management. He spent four years as the co-founder of an Indian long-short fund before taking over the management of his family’s equity portfolio. An avid endurance athlete, Hitesh has run nearly 10,000 km in marathons and ultramarathons and is a devoted father.

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