CHENNAI: Chennai-based opto semiconductor chipmaker Polymatech is planning to set up an assembly plant in Bahrain worth $16.5 million, which will help raising crops in the Middle East and the North Africa (MENA) region.
The Mena region has been reliant on food imports and the investment would help the region grow their own vegetables using light emitting semiconductors. Apart from that, the focus will be on medical electronics, including eye surgery, laparoscopy, and vein finder.
Eswara Rao Nandanam, MD and CEO of Polymatech, said the company will spend over $100 million in Bahrain by 2027. “Initially, we will be producing horticulture and medical devices chips,” he said.
Nandanam said soil of Bahrain doesn’t allow growth of plants. With this technology, the vegetables grown on cocopeat and hydroponics will use the light generated by the opto semiconductor chips, which use sapphire wafers that are thinner than hair.
Nandam said, “The ozone is different in different locations and the intensity sunlight will also be different. That is why we are using the polyhouses.”