As the government looks to increase the adoption of semiconductor design-linked scheme (DLI) by allowing the participation of foreign and large Indian companies, it is currently evaluating at least 28 proposals from startups for chip design, minister of state (MoS) for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.
Of the proposals being evaluated, many startups are focusing on designing the next generation of chips which are AI-optimised. The government will soon allow foreign and other large companies to participate in the DLI scheme by partnering with the startups.
“With the announcement of these foreign and the large Indian private companies being eligible for DLI by partnering with the startups, we expect there to be significantly more headway for designing new-age chips,” Chandrasekhar said. The government has so far approved seven startups. In order to make room for startups to train AI models, the government is planning a major graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster under the India AI programme.
The semiconductor DLI scheme is part of the government’s Rs 76,000-crore semiconductor incentive scheme, with Rs 1,000 crore kept aside for the DLI scheme. Apart from DLI, the government is currently evaluating about five to six proposals.
On Saturday, US-based Micron Technology will break ground for its $2.75-billion semiconductor packaging and assembling plant in Sanand, Gujarat. “Even as the Micron plant signals that growth is currently not very visible but soon that will manifest itself in the suppliers and the supply chain,” Chandrasekhar said. He added that the plant will serve as a signal to investors and other chip firms to take India seriously.
In the case of Micron, the Gujarat government is providing an additional subsidy of 20%. As a result, of the total investment of $2.75 billion, Micron will have to spend only $825 million. With its upcoming chip manufacturing unit, Micron expects to create 5,000 direct jobs and 15,000 additional jobs in the community over the coming years.