US chipmaker Micron broke floor for its USD 2.75-billion (INR22,854 crore) chip packaging plant at Sanand in Gujarat on Saturday, marking a big milestone in India’s aim to emerge as a hub for world semiconductor manufacturing.
The Idaho-headquartered firm, which had introduced its intent to put money into India throughout Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s journey to the US in June, obtained a fast-track approval for its proposal, turning into the primary abroad firm to start development below the formidable USD 10-billion India Semiconductor Mission.
“The complete world semiconductor trade is feeling very assured about India now,” union IT and electronics minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed ET on the ground-breaking ceremony. “We must always see at the very least two giant proposals within the coming few months, which is able to set up India as a (manufacturing) chief in a few of the area of interest semiconductor merchandise,” he mentioned.
Tata Initiatives will lead development within the plant’s first section, which entails constructing 500,000 sq. toes of deliberate cleanroom area, mentioned Micron vice-president Gursharan Singh.
The US firm expects to start development of section II within the second half of the last decade, which can be comparable in scale to the present challenge. In all, the challenge will straight generate some 5,000 new jobs and spur the creation of round 15,000 further jobs within the bigger neighborhood over the subsequent a number of years, in accordance with firm estimates.
Terming the launch as a “milestone second,” minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar mentioned India can be thought of as a critical vacation spot for semiconductor models now, “ how shortly the approvals for the Micron facility have been granted.”
‘India a trusted companion’
India’s place as a “trusted companion” within the world worth chain of electronics and semiconductors has been bolstered by the launch of this new facility, in accordance with Chandrasekhar, who referred to as it the start of a journey to develop into a “semiconductor nation.”
“This imaginative and prescient covers all facets, together with design, analysis, expertise improvement, packaging and fabrication. In simply over a yr, we’ve got made large progress in all these areas,” he mentioned.
Strategic, financial causes
The Micron plant turns into the primary below the federal government’s formidable push to kickstart a chip manufacturing ecosystem for each, financial in addition to strategic and safety causes. It’s anticipated to ultimately pave the way in which for fab proposals to return in that can strengthen India’s ambitions within the sector.
Micron has up to now employed 34 staff for the plant, Singh mentioned. The unit will produce packaged chips by December 2024 and can initially deal with exports, till the home chip market develops, he added.
The federal government can also be seeking to assist ancillary industries that can come up. Authorities officers mentioned 5 suppliers to Micron are additionally seeking to arrange their vegetation in India.
Singh mentioned the federal government has granted land and approvals to suppliers of Micron, with one such firm being Simtec Techniques. “There’s quite a lot of land that has been earmarked by the federal government of Gujarat for the ancillary trade,” Vaishnaw mentioned.
Semiconductor demand is anticipated to develop from INR2 lakh crore to INR5 lakh crore in coming years, in accordance with the minister, who mentioned the main target can be to have semiconductor initiatives in areas that may assist export know-how.
“India is already a really giant design hub. With manufacturing coming to India, your entire course of and worth chain will come to our nation, and Bharat will develop into a serious semiconductor hub,” mentioned Vaishnaw.
