With the expected groundbreaking ceremony of three new semiconductor projects worth $15.14 billion, including two from the Tata Group, scheduled for next week, India is set to embark on an ambitious journey in the semiconductor industry. Led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this bold initiative has begun to challenge China's dominance in the global silicon market.
Less than two weeks will probably pass before the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Modi, approves the construction of three chip factories. These facilities are expected to directly employ 20,000 people in sophisticated technology and indirectly employ about 60,000 people. See Also: CG Power receives Cabinet approval for a semiconductor plant in Gujarat valued at Rs 7,600 crore.
The new facilities, which include Tata's assembly, testing, monitoring, and packing (ATMP) unit in Assam for advanced packaging technologies, CG Power's Gujarat unit with Renesas Electronics and Stars Microelectronics, and Tata's fab with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) in Dholera, Gujarat, which aims to produce 50,000 wafers per month for high-performance chips, demonstrate India's commitment to establishing a robust semiconductor ecosystem through significant investments and international alliances.
India already possesses advanced chip design skills. Industry observers predict that with these units, the nation will also strengthen its chip production skills, posing a greater threat to China's market dominance in the years to come. A recent research from Moody's Analytics indicates that electronics production will "continue to remain in Asia for the foreseeable future" and that new investments in the semiconductor sector appear to be shifting away from China.
Tech businesses across several industries, including manufacturing and design, are now considering diversification tactics like as the "China plus one other nation" strategy, in response to the pandemic-induced worldwide scarcity of semiconductors. Leveraging this, the Indian government offered these IT companies substantial incentives and sound regulations, Neil Shah, Vice President of Research at market research firm Counterpoint, said IANS.