Amitesh Kumar Sinha Named As India Semiconductor Mission CEO

Amitesh Kumar Sinha has been named as the new chief executive officer of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). 

Sinha, who was earlier this month named additional secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), will be replacing Sushil Pal at the ISM.

The development comes at a time when the government is discussing plans to roll out the second phase of the ISM. 

The India Semiconductor Mission was introduced in 2022 to establish the country as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

It was a year after the government launched the Semicon India programme, committing INR 76,000 Cr to incentivise silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors, and more.

Last month, MeitY Secretary S Krishnan said that the Centre is ready with the outline of the next iteration of the Mission and the government is also planning to “support” chip design projects in the country and semiconductor packaging designs. 

The second phase of ISM may also offer support for gases and other elements needed for semiconductor production.

It is pertinent to note that India’s semiconductor demand is projected to reach $100-110 Bn by 2030 from the current demand of $45–50 Bn, Krishnan had said. 

He further said that the government is also planning to invest in five semiconductor companies of which four are OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) and one fab company. 

Notably, it has already approved Kaynes Semicon, Tata Electronics, CG Power, Micron Technology and Suchi Semicon to set up their respective units in the country. 

India’s Push For Chipmaking

The Indian government is making efforts in chipmaking by launching schemes and rolling out incentives to reduce the country’s reliance on imports. 

In line with that, the Centre is reportedly preparing to roll out a new design-linked incentive (DLI) scheme worth up to $4 Bn to bolster India’s electronics design ecosystem. 

Earlier this month, it was reported that the scheme will target companies working across 30 semiconductor and 30 electronics product categories. 

Key product categories to be considered under the scheme include modems, WiFi chips, near-field communication (NFC) chips, geolocation chips, 5G radio frequency receivers, power electronics for electric vehicles (EVs), home gateway and security systems, inverters, smart meters, and industrial control systems.

Besides, the Indian government has also increased land allocation and funding to Indian and international semiconductor players to set up their fabrication plants. 

Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated three semiconductor plants worth over INR 1.25 Lakh Cr – CG Power and Renesas Electronics’ INR 7,600 Cr chip project facility, Tata and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp’s (PSMC) chip foundry worth INR 91,000 Cr, and the Tata OSAT facility worth INR 27,000 Cr.

As per Inc42, seven semiconductor startups raised funding worth more than $28 Mn last year, compared to nearly $5 Mn raised by two startups in 2023. 

The startups that secured funding in 2024 include Mindgrove Technologies, FermionIC, C2i Semiconductors, AGNIT Semiconductors and BigEndian among others. 

India is expecting its first packaged semiconductor chip to be delivered by Kaynes Semicon by July. The pilot for the project is almost complete and the machinery and clean room facilities will be operational by May.