A robotic machine manufactures a semiconductor segment in a booth to show investors during the ASSAM 2.0 Summit for Investment in Johi, India, on February 25, 2025.
Norfuto Norfuto Gety pictures
India wants to become a global specialization for chips, but the possibilities are very slope: fierce competition, India is a late follow -up in the race to make the most advanced chips.
In 2022, when the United States restricts exports of advanced artificial intelligence chips to China to limit Beijing’s arrival to advanced technology, a global self -reliance race began semiconductors.
As for India, an opportunity allowed: the country wants to reduce dependence on imports, safe cards for strategic sectors, and to obtain a greater share of the global e -electronics market that has turned away from China.
India is one of the largest electronics consumers in the world, but it does not contain local chips and plays a simple role in the global supply chain. The “semiconductor mission” in New Delhi aims to change this.
The ambition is bold. It wants to create a full supply chain – from design to manufacturing, testing and packing – on Indian soil.
As of this month, the country agreed to 10 semiconductor projects with a total investment of 1.6 trillion rupee ($ 18.2 billion). These include semiconductor manufacturing plants, multiple testing and packaging factories.
India also has a set of engineering talents that already operate by international chips design companies.
However, progress has not yet been uneven, and investments are not sufficient and talents are not sufficient to make the aspirations of India’s chips a reality, as experts say.
“India needs more than a few FABS or ATP facilities (i.e. more than a few” shiny things “,” said Stephen Ezel, Vice President of Global Innovation Policy at the Information and Innovation Corporation, a science and technology research tank.
Ezll says that the leading companies in the field of semiconductor manufacturing consider “up to 500 separate workers” before they create billions of dollars in investments. These include talents, taxes, trade, technological policies, labor prices, laws and customs policies – all areas in which India operates.
Pay the New Delhi policy
In May, the Indian government added a new element to its ambition to the chip: a scheme to support the manufacture of electronic components, treat the critical bottleneck.
So far, the chips makers have no local demand for their products as there are no electronic components manufacturing companies, such as phone camera companies, in India.
Researchers within the Laboratory of the semiconductor manufacturing at the Nano Science and Engineering Center, at the Indian Institute of Science, in Bangalore.
Kiran mangunath AFP | Gety pictures
But the new policy provides financial support to companies that produce active and negative electronic components, creating a possible base for the local buyer that chips can connect.
In 2022, the country was also identified from its strategy to provide superior incentives to manufacturing units that make 28nm chips or less. When it comes to the chips, the smaller the size, the more performance with the improvement of energy efficiency. These chips can be used in new technologies such as Advanced AI and quantum computing by filling in more transistors in the same space.
But this approach did not help India to develop the emerging semiconductor industry, so New Delhi now covers 50 % of the project costs for all manufacturing units, regardless of the size of the chip, the test test and the packing units.
FAB companies from Taiwan, the United Kingdom and packaging companies from semiconductors from the United States and South Korea have shown interest in helping semiconductor ambitions in India.
“The Indian government has led to generous incentives to attract semiconductor manufacturers to India,” Ezel said, but stressed that “these types of investments are not sustainable forever.”
Long road
The largest chip project in India is currently a 910 billion dollar semiconductor ($ 11 billion) conductivity in Googa, in the state of Tata Electronics, in partnership with Taiwan Powerchip Semiconductutingting Corp.
The unit will manufacture chips for integrated energy management departments, display operating programs, their fine machine, and high -performance computing logic, Tata said the electronicsWhich can be used in the industries of AI, automotive, computing and data storage.
The Clas-Sic Wever Fab in the United Kingdom has linked SicSEM in India to create the country’s first commercial boat in the eastern state of Odisha.
These semiconductors can be used in missiles, defense equipment, electrical cars, consumer devices and solar energy, according to a government press statement.
“The next 3-4 years is pivotal to achieving semiconductor goals in India,” said Sogai Shetty, the administrative director of Semiconductor at PWC India.
The creation of operating silicone manufacturing facilities and overcoming technical obstacles and infrastructure that extend beyond the incentives will be a milestone, according to Sheetty.
Opportunities behind the Burundian Armed Forces
Manufacturing sites need strict requirements, such as being in flood -free areas and vibrations, with a reliable road connection – which can provide continuous logistical considerations for some areas.
Shetty added that India also needs specialized chemical suppliers who meet “the high purity criteria necessary to manufacture advanced semiconductors.”
Besides chips manufacturing factories, many medium -sized companies in India have shown interest in creating chip and packing test units. Several Indian groups also enter this sector, which is attracted by its higher margins and low capital intensity compared to FABS.
“OSAT is a great opportunity for India, although clarifying access to markets and demand channels will be important for continuous growth,” says Sheiti.
Success in this field will witness that India is entering the global chips industry, but New Delhi is still far from developing and manufacturing chip technology: semiconductor 2nm.
This 2NM chips provide better and energy efficiency due to the size of the smaller transistor. The semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan will start later this year, later this year, According to the FT report.
New Delhi, India – May 14: The Minister of Railways, Information, Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Fishnaw, surrounded the media on the decisions of the Council of Ministers at the National Media Center on May 14, 2025 in New Delhi, India.
Hindustan times Hindustan times Gety pictures
Last week, Indian minister Ashwini Vishnaw, who was in Bangaluru to open a new office from the semiconductor design company, said that the British company will design “the most important chips used in artificial intelligence servers, drones, and mobile chips from 2 nm” from the city of southern India.
But experts say that the role of local talent is likely to be limited to the design and verification of non -nucleus, as the basic intellectual property of chips design is often held in locations such as the United States or Singapore, where well -known IP systems support such activities.
“India has sufficient talent in the field of design, because in contrast to the manufacture and test of semiconductors that have appeared in the past two years, the design has been present since the nineties,” said Jayanth Bron, a recruiter who has more than 15 years of experience in employment for international semiconductor companies in India.
He said that international companies are usually banking to verify design validity “at the level of the mass” to India.
If you exceed this, the government of India will need to solve it if it wants to achieve semiconductor ambitions.
“India may consider updating its IP laws to address new forms of IP, such as digital content and programs,” says Sajai Singh, partner at JSA Advocates & Olectits. “Of course, improving enforcement mechanisms will have a long way to protect IP rights,” says Sajai Singh, partner at JSA Advocates & Olectits.
“Our competitors with countries like the United States, Europe and Taiwan, which not only have strong IP laws, but also a more firm ecosystem for chips design.”
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