Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, said that India will soon have two full-fledged semiconductor manufacturing plants, which will require billions of dollars in investment in addition to several chip assembly and packaging plants.
In an interview with PTI, the minister confirmed that the two projects include an $8 billion proposal submitted by Israel's Tower Semiconductors and another project submitted by the Tata Group.
I'm excited to share this with you, and you're probably the first person I've shared this with. In the short term, there will be two mature fabs in India. These fabs will cost billions. "We are evaluating 28nm fabs, as well as many other packaging options," Chandrasekhar said. He responded in response to a question about the $8 billion investment proposal submitted by Tower Semiconductors and the current state of India's semiconductor roadmap.
The minister said that the project will be approved during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term if it is not approved before the upcoming **.
I can safely tell you that the names you mentioned have submitted these large, very credible, very important investment proposals. Tata also announced other proposals at the plant. We think this will happen in the short term," Chandrasekhar said. **Four proposals have been received to establish semiconductor fabrication facilities and 13 proposals to establish chip assembly, test, monitoring, and packaging (ATMP) facilities.
In addition to these proposals, U.S. memory chip maker Micron Technology is also investing 2251. in GujaratRs 600 crore to build a chip assembly plant. The minister said India's semiconductor industry is very similar to the country's electronics industry.
He said that before 2014** electronics were neglected, and for 75 years, India has been a "classic case of missed opportunities" in the semiconductor sector. "In 2012, Intel wanted to build a factory here, but they didn't get support, so they left. When the Prime Minister launched this (semiconductor) initiative in January 2020, we knew we had to work very fast, smart, and we were essentially trying to make up for the lost opportunities of the last 75 years. "We've made significant progress in a wide range of areas, including semiconductor design, startups, research, talent, packaging, and manufacturing," Chandrasekhar said.
According to **data, the domestic electronics manufacturing industry has grown more than fourfold in the past 10 years to 82Rs 200 million. In FY 2013-14, the output value of the electronics manufacturing industry was 18,045Rs 400 million ($29.8 billion) and grew significantly to Rs 8,223.5 crore ($102 billion) in FY 2022-23 and is expected to grow further to Rs 23 crore ($95,195 crore) ($300 billion) by 2026. Chandrasekhar also sent a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman before the budget to lower import duties on electronic components in order to boost the growth of the country's exports.
The minister said he learned this from his former boss and former Intel CEO Andrew Grove's book "Only Paranoid People Can Survive".
I believe in paranoia. I believe that as a nation, we should never take our leadership for granted. Unfortunately, I wrote to the Minister of Finance, which we misunderstood, as some do. In fact, the letter effectively points this out. "India must seize this huge opportunity to shift from import-substitution-led manufacturing to export-led manufacturing," Chandrasekhar said.
He said that the global electronics value chain** is shifting from being primarily located in China to finding more hubs. "India has played an important role in this transformation over the past five years. India will play an important role in the next five to ten years. Electronics manufacturing, we are almost absent. In the words of Tim Cook (Apple): "Three years ago, there were no iPhones in India. 100% of our phones are imported. Today, we export $100-$12 billion in Apple and Samsung phones. The minister said. The growth, he said, has been phenomenal.
Our Prime Minister's ambition is to get to the top. So whatever I say before the budget, whatever we think about the budget, it's about achieving our success and further success. We believe that our Prime Minister has a clear vision that we want to achieve $300 billion in electronics manufacturing by 2026-27," the minister said.
Official data shows that India has now reached 99 percent of the mobile phones used in the country2% is at the stage of domestic manufacturing, and the country has transformed from an importer to an exporter in this sector.
We** and the Prime Minister have an absolutely clear view that smartphones, IT, laptops, servers or hardware are areas where we want to be global champions and leaders and be very trusted partners in the global value chain. Businesses, ** and people all over the world," Chandrasekhar said.