India to manufacture 3-nm chips by ’32: Min

India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday laid out an ambitious roadmap for India’s semiconductor push, saying the government plans to support at least 50 fabless chip companies in the next phase of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), also called ISM 2.0, by scaling up the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, with the long-term goal of producing “one AMD” and “one Qualcomm’ out of the country.

- Sejal Sharma

Fabless chip companies design and sell chips that are produced by specialised foundries

‘A ministry of electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) official said on condition of anonymity that ISM 2.0 will be announced in three months after the government finalises its structure , including funding, incentives for fabless startups, a sharper focus on advanced design, anda roadmap to achieve 3-nanometre and 2-nanometre technology nodes.

The first phase of ISM, announced in 202l-end, had an outlay of 276,000 crore, which currently has 10 projects under construction, with four expected to begin chip production this year. India will soon be able to manufacture 180-nanometre chips at SCL Mohali, while more advanced nodes down to 28 nanometres being enabled through the upcoming fabrication facility at Tata-PSMC plant in Dholera, Gujarat. By 2032, India has goals to manufacture 3 nanometer (nm) chips, said Vaishnaw, adding that India is studying the paths taken by Taiwan, South Korea and Japan to help get there. Node refers to a chip generation, with those with

Jower nm having more transistors in the same or smaller area.