New Delhi, June 4: Union communications minister Dayanidhi Maran will start his US tour on Sunday to invite companies like Intel, AMD, IBM, Cisco, UT Starcom and other telecom and IT majors to set up manufacturing units in India.

Maran will first visit San Francisco to promote and project India as a strategic hub for manufacturing, marketing, research and development and services. During his visit, Maran will pitch for major international investments in the hardware manufacturing sector with a special focus on creating more jobs.

Maran will meet Intel chairman Craig Barret and hand over a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging the computer chipmaker to establish its advance test manufacturing (ATM) facility in India. He will impress on Intel the benefits that would accrue to the company if it sets up its ATM facility in India.

Maran will also meet UT Starcom chairman, CEO and president Hong Liang Lu, Cisco CEO John Chambers, AMD CEO and chairman Hector Ruiz and Solectron executive president Craig London.

Ministry officials said Maran is also scheduled to meet Vincent G. Cerf, chairman of Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers, to discuss and promote efficiency in routing Internet traffic within the country as a sequel to the launch of dot IN domain and other related issues.

Maran will also have interactions with the chief of IBM's applied materials division.