NEW DELHI: In a major breakthrough for the country’s semiconductor industry, the government on Thursday approved the application for three projects. Tata Electronic Private Limited, a subsidiary of the Tata Group, received approval for fab manufacturing.
The first fab proposal, accepted by the government, will be set up in partnership with Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) of Taiwan. The government also approved setting up two assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) units – one in Assam and the other in Gujarat’s Dholera.
So far, India’s semiconductor industry has received investment of Rs 1.26 lakh crore for projects including that of US semiconductor major Micron technology for packaging unit in Gujarat. The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said construction for all three semiconductor units will start within next 100 days.
“It is a remarkable achievement. It is a giant leap. Now, we are targeting to become a major player in the semiconductor value chain by 2029... PM Modi actually wants us to work on a 20 year vision for semiconductors,” said Vaishnaw.
The fab will be constructed in Dholera, Gujarat, and will produce 50,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM). The total investment the company will make for it is Rs 91,000 crore. The minister said the fab will mostly produce 28 nanometre (nm) chips, apart from 50 nm, 55 nm and 90 nm ones, and have 16,000 suppliers. PSMC is renowned for its expertise in the logic and memory foundry segments. PSMC operates six semiconductor foundries in Taiwan,” said the minister.
Tata Group will establish a semiconductor packaging unit in Morigaon, Assam, with an investment of Rs 27,000 crore. The unit will focus on developing indigenous advanced semiconductor packaging technologies, including flip chip and ISIP (Integrated System in Package) technologies. It will have a daily production capacity of 48 million chips.
As per estimates, the Centre and state government of Gujarat will cumulatively bear 70% of cost of the project in the form of subsidies. Another major project worth Rs 76,000 crore is underway in Sanand, Gujarat. CG Power, Renesas Electronics Corporation (Japan), and Stars Microelectronics (Thailand) will collaborate to establish a separate unit there. The government said Renesas is a leading global player in microcontrollers, analog, power, and System on Chip (SoC) products. Renesas operates 12 semiconductor facilities worldwide and focuses on specialized chips. “India has now in just two years received 26 billion dollars of investments that are all either approved or under active consideration,” said MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar.