THE CHIPS ARE IN!

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING IS A SYMPHONY OF GLOBAL INPUTS: LITHOGRAPHY MACHINES FROM THE NETHERLANDS, SPECIALTY GASES FROM JAPAN, AND FABRICATION HUBS IN TAIWAN AND SOUTH KOREA. WILL INDIA'S AMBITIOUS MISSION TO DEVELOP A SEMICONDUCTOR ECOSYSTEM HELP IT JOIN THE HIGH-TECH CHORUS?

- NILADRY SARKAR

Located 115 kilometres southwest of Ahmedabad, Dholera is a dusty village of broken roads and rugged terrain—nondescript at first glance. The landscape is dry and barren, save for an area where construction is in full swing. Sleek office buildings are beginning to rise, and newly laid blacktop roads carve paths into the future—an empty canvas coming to life.

So far, 22 square kilometres have been developed—the first brushstroke in an audacious plan to transform Dholera into a next-generation city. Over the next three decades, under the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR) project, 22 villages in the taluka will be woven into a sprawling, 920sqkm megacity—larger than Mumbai or Bengaluru.

This transformation is being charted through six town-planning schemes (TPS), rolled out in three phases. Phase one includes TPS-1 and TPS-2, covering 158 square kilometers. This phase involves building essential infrastructure: roads, utility grids, water pipelines, wastewater systems, solid waste facilities, and power and information technology networks. Also under development is a river-bunding project, the Ahmedabad-Dholera expressway, freight and rapid transit rail links, and an international airport. Since Dholera falls within a coastal regulation zone, 150 square kilometres of agricultural land will remain preserved.

As a greenfield city-in-the-making, Dholera is envisioned as a manufacturing and industrial hub. Its economic base is set to shift from agriculture and aquaculture to high-value, cutting-edge sectors such as electronics, aviation, defence, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, automotive components, and agro-food processing.