Centre Clears 4 New Semiconductor Projects Worth INR 4,600 Cr

In a bid to further boost the country’s blooming semiconductor ecosystem, the Union cabinet has cleared four new semiconductor projects with a total investment of INR 4,584 Cr under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). 

The semiconductor units will come up in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.

In a press briefing, electronics and IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the Cabinet approved the following semiconductor plants:

— SiCSem Pvt Ltd will set up an integrated facility for manufacturing silicon carbide-based compound semiconductors in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar. The company is collaborating with Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd to manufacture the semiconductors at its plant which will have an annual capacity of 60,000 wafers and packaging capacity of 96 Mn units. 

The compound semiconductors produced there will find usage in satellites, rockets, among others. The total investment layout for the plant will be INR 2,066 Cr, Vaishnaw said.

— US-based 3D Glass Solutions Inc will set up a vertically integrated advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate unit in Bhubaneswar to build products that will be used in sectors like defence, high-performance computing, AI, RF and automotive, photonics. 

The planned capacity of this unit will be approximately 69,600 glass panel substrates, 50 Mn assembled units, and 13,200 3DHI modules per annum. The total outlay for this unit will be INR 1,943 Cr. Besides, the unit will see investments from companies like Intel, Lockheed Martin, along with other VC funds, Vaishnaw said. 

— Advanced System in Package Technologies (ASIP) will set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh with an annual capacity of 96 Mn units. The semiconductors will find use in mobile phones, set-top boxes, automobile applications, and other electronic products. The total investment for this plant would be INR 468 Cr. 

—  Continental Device (CDIL) will set up a semiconductor manufacturing facility in Punjab’s Mohali to manufacture high-power discrete semiconductor devices such as MOSFETs, IGBTs, Schottky bypass diodes, and transistors. 

The annual capacity of this plant, which would be set up with an investment of INR 117 Cr, will be 158.4 Mn units. 

India’s Semiconductor Push

With the new approvals, the total count of semiconductor plants approved under the ISM stands at 10. Prior to the four approvals today, the Union Cabinet gave its go ahead to HCL-Foxconn joint venture (JV) to set up a semiconductor unit with an outlay of about INR 7,400 Cr in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida. Besides, plants of Micron, Kaynes, Tata Electronics and CG Power have also received their go-aheads over the past two years.

The government said that with the four more approvals, the cumulative investment by the projects under ISM has increased to around INR 1.60 Lakh Cr in six states. 

“With the approval of these projects, the semiconductor ecosystem in the country would get a significant boost as these projects include the country’s first commercial compound fab as well as highly advanced glass-based substrate semiconductor packaging unit,” a government statement said. 

The Centre launched the ISM in December 2021 with the goal of establishing a self-reliant and vibrant semiconductor ecosystem in India. It was approved with a total financial outlay of INR 76,000 Cr.

The ISM aims to provide financial support for investments in semiconductor fabrication, display manufacturing & chip design to strengthen India’s integration into global electronics value chains. 

Under the Mission, the Centre claims to have provided “design infrastructure support” to 278 academic institutions and 72 startups, along with training about 60K students in semiconductor fabrication.

At the heart of all this is the homegrown semiconductor market which, as per Inc42, is expected to become a $150 Bn opportunity by 2030.