Nod to Rs 1.26-trillion chip-making units
Includes first by Tata Group in fabrication
On the timelines to get the chip from the first fab project, Vaishnaw said, “a typical semiconductor fab timeline for production is 3-4 years. But we will try to compress it”.
The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved semiconductor projects worth Rs 1.26 trillion, including the country’s first Rs 91,000 crore semiconductor fabrication proposal by Tata Electronics in partnership with Taiwan-based Power Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC). Including the Micron project which was approved last year, the total value of projects as on date stands at Rs 1.49 trillion.
The other major project to be approved on Thursday was also by the Tata Group – the Rs 27,000-crore assembly, test, marking, and packaging (ATMP) project by Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test. The third, which carries an investment of Rs 7,600 crore was of CG Power in partnership with Japan-based Renesas Electronics and Thailand’s Stars Microelectronics.
The first fab project that will manufacture higher compute chips with 28 nm technology will be set up in Dholera, Gujarat for which the construction is expected to start in the next 100 days, the government said. The fab will have a capacity of 50,000 wafers per month, and produce 300 crore chips every year, which will cater to industries like high-performance computing, electric vehicles, defence, and consumer electronics, among other things.
“The target is to become a major semiconductor manufacturing hub in the world by 2029. Today, India is present in the complete value chain of semiconductors which includes design, fabrication, and ATMP,” communications and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
On the timelines to get the chip from the first fab project, Vaishnaw said, “a typical semiconductor fab timeline for production is 3-4 years. But we will try to compress it”.
“Our country has today developed the ATMP technology. Over a period of last many months, we have been able to develop ATMP technology,” Vaishnaw added.
The chip projects approved will generate direct employment of 20,000 advanced technology jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs, the government said.
Minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “the cumulative amount of investment proposals that the government has got today is $26 billion. That is really significant by any standard of global semiconductor ecosystem expansion”.
“We will certainly become the largest semiconductor consumer after China and North America. Our semiconductor consumption will be about $110 billion by 2028,” Chandrasekhar added.
Among the upcoming projects, the government is also considering an $11-billion semiconductor fab project by Israel-based Tower Semiconductor.
Including Micron’s ATMP unit in Sanand, Gujarat, the total semiconductor projects worth Rs 1.49 trillion have been approved by the government so far. Of the Rs 1.49 trillion, the government’s incentive outlay as part of Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor incentive scheme is roughly estimated to be Rs 59,000 crore, Vaishnaw said.
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said, “with our announcement of the semiconductor fab and this strategic project in semiconductor assembly and test, we will be enabling our global customers to base a key part of their semiconductor value chain in India”.
The ATMP project by Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test will come up in Morigaon, Assam at an investment of Rs 27,000 crore. The company is developing indigenous advanced semiconductor packaging technologies including flip chip and integrated system in package technologies. The plant will have a capacity of 48 million chips per day, will cater to automotive, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, telecom, and mobile phones.
The company expects the construction of the facility to start this year with the first phase of the facility becoming operational by mid-2025.
CG Power and Japan’s Renesas will set up an ATMP semiconductor plant for specialised chips in Gujarat’s Sanand, producing 15 million chips per day. Renesas operates 12 semiconductor facilities globally. The unit will manufacture chips for consumer, industrial, automotive, and power applications.
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