India will need 10-20 semiconductor fabrication plants over the next 10 years and there is a lot of interest from global semiconductor companies to invest in the country, Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of global semiconductor industry body SEMI, said on Wednesday.
Comments from Manocha assume significance as the government is focussing on growing the semiconductor ecosystem in the country backed by the Rs 76,000 crore incentive scheme. The government’s plan is also to increase the corpus for incentivising more projects as part of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0, for which the guidelines are in the works.
“This is a rough estimate…if we want to make India a powerhouse for the industry, there is no ceiling on the number. The challenge is to show the companies the potential for growth, business and opportunities in India,” Manocha said.
SEMI will organise the first global conference on the semiconductor ecosystem, Semicon India 2024 from September 11-13 in Noida.
On the amount of capex India should set aside for boosting its semiconductor ecosystem, Manocha said, “India has to see what is their appetite (in terms of additional capex). More the merrier. But I am pretty convinced India is ready to go to a bigger (capex) number”.
Manocha has over 40 years of experience in the semiconductor industry. He also served as the CEO of chip manufacturing company GlobalFoundries between 2011 and 2014.
On Monday, the government approved Kaynes’ Rs 3,300-crore chip assembly and test project, making it the fifth such project in the country under the semiconductor incentive scheme.
The other four projects are — Micron’s Rs 22,516 crore ATMP project in Sanand, Tata group-Powerchip Semiconductor (PSMC) Rs 91,000 crore semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Tata’s Rs 27,000 crore ATMP unit in Assam, and CG Power’s Rs 7,600 crore ATMP unit in Sanand.
When asked about a separate set of incentives for the semiconductor ancillary industry, Manocha said, “Incentives would definitely help and boost (the supply chain ecosystem). the country should also look into crystallising the product market which will help in becoming a big consumer of semiconductor products”.
Semicon India 2024 will feature over 250 exhibitors and over 650 booths across the global semiconductor supply chain.
