After major announcements for the semiconductor sector during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, the government expects significant results in the coming years.
It was recently confirmed that Micron Technology, Inc. will spend more than $800 million over the next five years on a new $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and testing facility in India, with funding from the Semiconductor Mission. The company will employ 5,000 workers and create 15,000 additional jobs in the community during the same period.
Applied Materials has also announced that it will establish a Semiconductor Center for Commercialization and Innovation in India to diversify the countries’ semiconductor supply chains. This includes a gross incremental investment of $400 million over four years.
It was also announced that Lam Research will train 60,000 Indian engineers as part of its “Semiverse Solution” to help the country meet its semiconductor education and workforce development goals.
Possible results
The Indian government now believes that the adoption of Micron’s proposal will help create the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem and increase employment both directly and indirectly in India.
The government said the products produced by Micron will be used for local and global consumption, reducing imports and increasing exports.
“The land allocation and the design of the factory have already been done. Within six quarters, Micron is expected to produce ‘Make in India’ chips,” Union Secretary Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
In the case of Applied Materials, it is expected to bring together applied engineers, leading global and domestic suppliers of equipment subsystems and components, as well as leading and academic institutions. The focus will be on accelerating the innovation and commercialization of technologies needed to produce next-generation subsystems and components in the country.
The government believes that the initiative will serve as a catalyst for the training and development of future semiconductor talent, as well as opening up new opportunities for India to play a major role in the global semiconductor industry.
According to the government, “In its first five years, the center would support more than $2 billion in spending that is expected to create at least 500 new advanced tech jobs.”
On Lam Research, a global provider of innovative wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry, the government expects the first pilot project on education and skills for Indian youth to start in August this year.
The organization’s “Semiverse Solution” provides a virtual environment for nanofabrication (SEMulator3D) that enables a transformational learning experience. It is believed that this program, once integrated with the revised curriculum recently launched by AICTE, will train 6,000 or more engineers skilled in semiconductor nanotechnologies per year and over the next 10 years.
“It will add 60,000 skilled workers, which has a $100 billion revenue impact for the semiconductor chip manufacturing industry, which needs skilled workers,” the government noted.
Milestones and current status
Significant progress has been made since the announcement of the India Semiconductor Mission and the approval of the Rs 76,000 crore investment to catalyze and expand India’s Semicon Ecosystem.
The milestones so far are:
- A vibrant Semicon Design innovation ecosystem that is growing rapidly with numerous new startups including 5 under the Semicon India ‘FutureDESIGN’ program.
- Strategic Indian RISC-V program to develop next generation Digital India RISCV (DIRV) chips and systems.
- Semicon India FutureSkils launched to create 85,000 VLSI engineers as global talent, in 2023 semiconductor curriculum, designed in collaboration with global industry majors.
- Research and development centers of every global semiconductor major in India.
- Micron packing facility approved.
- Semicon India Complex modernization and research fab and India Semicon Research Center to be completed.
On the semiconductor industry, union IT minister Vaishnaw said on Friday that there was a race almost two years ago to reach the smallest node, but now the idea has changed.
“The way the telecom and EV industry has grown and the way semiconductors are used in every electronic product, the industry itself is now considering that nearly half of the semiconductor sector will be mature nodes, including 14-16-28 nanometers . The rest of the semiconductor industry will focus on smaller and advanced nodes,” explains the minister.
Vaishnaw went on to discuss the need for gallium nitride, well suited for high-power transistors that can operate at high temperatures, and silicon carbide or SiC, which is also used in semiconductor electronics devices that operate at high voltages.
He stated that based on the industry’s understanding and current requirements in September 2022, the government has amended the Indian semiconductor program.
“We have asked those applicants who submitted their applications in January this year to amend the applications to meet the requirements and resubmit them. They now have the opportunity to focus on certain sectors and find new technology partners,” said Vaishnaw.
