MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

AFTER DECADES OF DEPENDING ON OTHER NATIONS FOR SEMICONDUCTORS, INDIA HAS ADOPTED A 360-DEGREE STRATEGY AIMED AT MAKING IT ONE OF THE TOP 5 MANUFACTURERS OF CHIPS BY 2029

- NIDHI SINGAL

BACK IN 1969, when Robert Noyce, having co-founded Intel barely a year ago, visited India to see if he could build a fabrication unit to make integrated circuits, no one had imagined a world dominated by electronics and semiconductor chips, as ICs are called. India offered him the opportunity to set up a fab, but it was too small for Intel's ambitions. Later, India did make a beginning with the Semiconductor Complex Ltd, but its facility in Mohali, near Chandigarh, was destroyed in a fire in 1989.

Today, in a post-Covid world, every major economy that has outsourced semiconductor chip manufacturing for decades, is seeking self-sufficiency. And so is India, with a ₹76,000-crore semiconductor and display fab scheme.

While Intel hasn't considered India yet for a fab, some leading names, such as the US-based Micron, Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC), and Japan's Renesas have shown trust in the country's semiconductor ambitions. Micron is setting up an assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) plant. PSMC and Renesas are working with Tata Electronics and CG Power on a semiconductor fab and a packaging plant, respectively.

But the government isn't stopping at fabs, testing and packaging plants: it is working on a 360-degree approach to creating an ecosystem and leading chip innovation.

The setting up of semiconductor fabs and ATMPs in any country usually leads to the development of a downstream ecosystem-industries that utilise the output to manufacture finished products. Putting in place such an ecosystem is critical to India's semiconductor dreams, says Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and IT. "When semiconductor manufacturing begins in a country, many downstream industries start instantly, like laptop manufacturing, server manufacturing, electric vehicles, automobiles, machines used in factories, where semiconductors are used," he says.