India’s Semiconductor Growth will outshine in the next few years: What we know
According to Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, the central government aims to attract 4-6 major companies involved in semiconductor fabrication, packaging, and testing. The government plans to make investments similar to those made in the Micron unit within the next year.
Vaishnaw stated that these companies are currently engaged in discussions with the government and are encouraged by its focus on developing a complete ecosystem for fabrication, rather than just bringing in semiconductor fabrication units alone.
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In an interview following Micron’s announcement of establishing an outsourced assembly and test facility in Gujarat, Vaishnaw explained that a complete ecosystem encompasses the semiconductor unit itself, its design, the suppliers of chemicals, gases, and other compounds, equipment manufacturers, and the availability of skilled talent. He mentioned that Micron, Applied Materials, and Lam Research India’s decisions to set up operations in India demonstrate the government’s approach to developing the entire electronics ecosystem.
Vaishnaw noted that Micron, one of the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturing companies, plans to establish a unit for testing and packaging memory chips used in various devices such as mobile phones, laptops, servers, telecom equipment, and electric vehicles. The company has already received approval for land allocation and has finalized the construction design blueprint. Micron is also in the process of selecting a construction agency, and production is expected to commence within the next six quarters.
The Minister expressed hope that the approval of Micron’s unit would encourage other companies to invest in India. He mentioned that many companies were willing to invest but were waiting for the ecosystem to develop. Vaishnaw also highlighted Applied Materials’ intent to invest over $400 million in setting up a collaborative engineering center in Bangalore. The center will focus on developing subsystems, components, and talent for the semiconductor manufacturing industry.
