Highway to Thailand is Assam's trump card in $3 bn pitch for chipmakers

The India-Myanmar-Thailand highway can help Assam export India-made semiconductor chips and attract investments from South-east Asia to open factories in the state, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday.

- Shouvik Das

"The tri-nation highway will be ready for operations within the next three years, as certain points of stress in the Myanmar region ease out. Once this happens, Assam will have direct connectivity with the South-east Asia region—which could be key to field electronics clients in the region to export chips made in India, and also have companies from the region come set up their factories in Assam," Sarma said in an interview.

"While the likes of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and now even Gujarat may have more developed ecosystems, we're providing subsidies and this strategic advantage for companies."