Marking the last approvals under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 1.0, the Union Cabinet has approved two major projects with investments worth over ₹3,900 crore. The approvals cover a compound semiconductor-based display unit by Crystal Matrix in Dholera and an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility by Suchi Semicon in Surat.
The larger ₹3,068 crore Crystal Matrix unit will focus on gallium nitride (GaN)-based wafers for Mini and Micro LED displays—an area where India is looking to build an early foothold. The facility will have capacity for 72,000 square metres of display panels and 24,000 sets of RGB GaN wafers annually, catering to applications such as video walls, AR/VR systems, defence-grade displays and medical equipment. It is expected to generate about 1,600 jobs.
The Suchi Semicon project, with an investment of ₹868 crore, will manufacture lead frame and wirebond packaging chips used across appliances, mobile devices, EV battery systems and automotive electronics. It is expected to produce 673 million units of Small Outline Integrated Circuit (SOIC) packages and 360 million Transistor Outline (TO) packages annually, and create around 630 jobs.
Execution is already underway: Vaishnaw
Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that execution is already underway. “Display fab production will begin in about 1.5 years, for which the design cues have been taken while working with the South Korean firms. Meanwhile, the ATMP production is expected to start in 8-10 months. Currently, the product qualification stage is ongoing,” he said while speaking to the press.
Together, the two projects are likely to create over 2,200 skilled jobs.
With these clearances, the number of semiconductor projects approved under the first phase of ISM has reached 12, with total committed investments now at around ₹1.64 lakh crore.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) has focused on three core verticals for the first phase-chip design, semiconductor manufacturing (fab), and assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP/OSAT)-to establish an initial base which marked the first few instrumental steps. Meanwhile, officials have indicated that the upcoming ISM 2.0 would include upstream and enabling segments such as semiconductor equipment manufacturing, research and development, specialty chemicals, industrial gases, and materials.