The government will invest Rs 4,500 crore to modernise the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali over the next three years, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.
The funds will be drawn from the India Semiconductor Mission which has an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore. “The plan is to scale up SCL’s production capacity by 100 times, overhaul the old technology stack, and expand the facility to support chip manufacturing goals,” Vaishnaw said.
25 acres request stuck over land price
The Centre has asked the Punjab government for 25 acres of additional land. The land was selected by SCL for its expansion more than a year ago. But the state’s demand for a higher price has stalled progress, according to sources.
“We should think for the next 20 years. The sooner the land is given, the faster SCL’s expansion can happen,” Vaishnaw said. The transformation of the Centre-run facility will include a complete technology upgrade, expansion of production and talent development.
The modernisation will initially cover mature semiconductor nodes ranging from 28 to 180 nanometres, widely used in satellites, defence systems, railways and consumer electronics. Additionally, a major constraint for Indian chip designers has been access to fabrication infrastructure. The upgraded SCL seeks to plug this gap.
“When students design chips, it is very difficult for them to get a facility where these chips can be manufactured,” the minister said. “SCL Mohali will become that platform where students can tape out their chips. Designing, manufacturing and validating chips here will give our students a huge advantage,” he added.
Consortium to build products with new SCL chips
A consortium comprising The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), SCL and private sector firms will jointly develop products using chips manufactured at the modernised facility.
On Friday, 28 chips designed by students from 17 academic institutes, using electronic design automation tools provided under the chips to startup (C2S) programme, were handed over. With this, a total of 56 chips designed by students have been fabricated at SCL as part of the this programme.
SCL has provided them with design kits, technical support, and end-to-end manufacturing services, essentially turning their concepts into working semiconductor devices. India now has around 300 universities equipped with electronic design automation tools for chip design. Also, there were two independent tie-ups with Dhirubhai Ambani Institute, Gandhinagar, and Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai.