Hyderabad: US-based digital manufacturing company Protolabs will be setting up its global capability centre (GCC) in Hyderabad as part of its India expansion, Telangana IT and industries minister D Sridhar Babu announced on Thursday after meeting the company’s senior leadership.Protolabs plans to begin operations this month and expand the Hyderabad centre to 200-300 employees in the near term, with hiring focused largely on engineering talent, the minister said.The proposed GCC will work on advanced engineering, digital manufacturing technologies and product development, areas seen as central to Protolabs’ rapid prototyping and on-demand production business.A Protolabs delegation comprising its chief financial officer Dan Schumacher, chief human resources officer Agnes Semington, chief technology and AI officer Marc Kermisch and India managing director Ashish Sharma met the minister to discuss the company’s India entry strategy.Sridhar Babu said the investment strengthens Hyderabad’s standing as a destination for next-generation capability centres, supported by a strong engineering talent base, digital ecosystem and manufacturing growth.He said the new centre would deepen local capabilities in rapid prototyping and low-volume manufacturing, helping startups, MSMEs and larger companies speed up product development and reduce time-to-market.The minister said the proposed facility aligns with Telangana’s strategy of attracting investments in deep tech, advanced engineering and innovation-led industries. IT adviser Saikrishna also attended the meeting.Founded in 1999, Protolabs operates across North America and Europe and provides digitally enabled manufacturing services.
