India posing threat to China in semicon space

New Delhi: As India embarks on its ambitious semiconductor journey with a likely groundbreaking ceremony of three new semiconductor projects worth $15.14 billion, including two from the Tata Group, next week, the bold initiative under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership has started to jolt China’s dominance in the global silicon market.India already has deep capabilities in chip design. With these units, the country will develop capabilities in chip fabrication too, thus further challenging China’s market share in the coming years, say industry experts.The first India-made chip from the Rs22,500 crore Micron semiconductor plant in Gujarat is set to arrive in December this year.

The groundbreaking for three chip plants is likely happening in less than two weeks after the Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Modi, approved the establishment of these units that are set to generate direct employment of 20,000 advanced technology jobs and nearly 60,000 indirect jobs. The new units, including Tata’s fab with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) in Dholera, Gujarat targeting 50,000 wafers per month for high-performance chips; Tata’s assembly, testing, monitoring, and packing (ATMP) unit in Assam for advanced packaging technologies; and CG Power’s Gujarat unit with Renesas Electronics and Stars Microelectronics, mark India’s commitment to building a strong semiconductor ecosystem through substantial investments and global partnerships. According to a latest Moody’s Analytics report, new investments in the semiconductor industry seem to be moving away from China and electronics production will “continue to remain in Asia for the foreseeable future”.