4 New Projects Add Momentum To India Semiconductor Mission

The cumulative investment for the fresh projects, under the Centre’s flagship India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) launched in 2021, would be around Rs 4,594 crore.

“We need to focus on semiconductor, as it is essential base for manufacturing modern day defence equipment, automobile, communication devices and others,” Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said at a media briefing.

The total investments now with the new projects under the ISM stands at Rs 1.60 lakh crore.

The Narendra Modi government, which is trying to position India as the next manufacturing hub for chips, has been focusing on drawing investments to boost “Made in India” semiconductors, an essential ingredient not just for electronic items but also for defence equipment. 

At present, China, along with other countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and the US, produce more than 60 per cent of the world’s semiconductors. “Such dependence on a single region has exposed global supply chains to significant risks — from pandemics and natural disasters to geopolitical tensions,” a government release said. 

But India is not far behind. The semiconductor ecosystem is gaining momentum with the government approving 10 projects, which are at different stages of execution, across the country, including in Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.

These include the four that were approved by the government earlier this week.

India Semiconductor Mission: The Journey Till Now

India launched its Semiconductor Mission in 2021 with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore of public funding. Since its launch, India has made significant progress in achieving its target of indigenously producing chips, covering wafer fabrication, ATMP/OSAT, and compound semiconductors. 

Speaking about the overall progress of the India Semiconductor Mission, Vaishnaw said that implementation of approved projects is rapidly advancing and, most probably, India will witness the rollout of its first made-in-India semiconductor chip within this year.

Key Projects In The Works

The key projects already underway include the Tata-PSMC fabrication unit in Dholera, Gujarat, with an investment of Rs 91,526 crore, set to produce 50,000 wafers per month for automotive and AI applications by 2026; the Micron ATMP facility in Sanand, Gujarat, with an investment of Rs 22,900 crore, which will focus on DRAM and NAND packaging and is expected to be operational by late 2025; Tata TSAT’s OSAT unit in Jagiroad, Assam, with a projected output of 48 million chips per day; Kaynes' OSAT facility in Sanand, Gujarat, which is set to produce over six million chips per day for industrial and telecom use; and the HCL-Foxconn joint venture in UP, which aims to manufacture 36 million display driver chips per month by 2027.

The four newly approved companies are SiCSem Private Limited, Continental Device India Private Limited (CDIL), 3D Glass Solutions Inc. (3DGS), and Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies.

SiCSem and 3DGS will establish their units in Info Valley, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. CDIL will expand its operations in Mohali, Punjab, while ASIP will set up its unit in Andhra Pradesh.

Vishnaw said that all four companies are expected to begin production within the next two to three years and are expected to generate employment for 2,034 skilled professionals. 

In an official statement, the Government said that SiCSem, in collaboration with UK-based Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd., will set up the country’s first commercial compound semiconductor fabrication facility focused on Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices.

This will have an annual production capacity of 60,000 wafers and a packaging capacity of 96 million units. In the same location, US-based 3D Glass Solutions Inc. will establish a vertically integrated advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate unit, it added.

ASIP Technologies will establish a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh in partnership with South Korea’s APACT Co. Ltd. With an annual capacity of 96 million units, the government said products manufactured here would cater to applications in mobile phones, set-top boxes, automobiles, and other electronic devices. 

Meanwhile, CDIL will expand its existing discrete semiconductor manufacturing facility in Mohali, Punjab. This brownfield expansion will focus on the production of high-power discrete devices such as MOSFETs, IGBTs, Schottky diodes, and transistors using both silicon and silicon carbide technologies, with an annual capacity of 1,58.38 million units.

Future Perfect

“The devices manufactured by these proposed units will have applications in automotive electronics including EVs and its charging infrastructure, renewable energy systems, power conversion applications, industrial applications and communication infrastructure,” the Government said.

Industry experts believe the country’s growing world-class chip design capabilities is being propelled by design infrastructure support provided by the Government to 278 academic institutions and 72 start-ups. Already, more than 60,000 students have availed the benefits of the talent development programme, they added.