According to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, India's Minister of Electronics and IT, the country will soon see the construction of two fully operational semiconductor production plants, together with several chip assembly and packaging units, costing several billion dollars.
The minister acknowledged in an interview with PTI that the two projects involve two proposals, one from Tata Group and the other from Israel-based Tower Semiconductors, with a combined value of USD 8 billion.
You are likely the first person I will share this with, and I am pleased to do so. Two fully operational fabs will soon be established in India. "We are evaluating a plethora of other packaging proposals, and these 65-, 40-, and 28-nanometer fabs will cost multiple billion dollars," Chandrasekhar announced.
Concerning the current state of India's semiconductor roadmap and an investment proposal from Tower Semiconductors, worth USD 8 billion, he was answering a question.
According to the minister, the project will be greenlit under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's third term, barring any delays caused by the impending general elections.
You may rest assured that the individuals you listed have presented substantial, very reputable investment ideas. In the fab, you can also find other announced projects from Tata. According to Chandrasekhar, this is going to happen in the near future.
There have been thirteen proposals for ATMP units and four for semiconductor manufacturing plants received by the government.
These plans come on top of the one that US memory chip manufacturer Micron is already planning to build in Gujarat, which would cost Rs 22,516 crore.
The minister compared India's history in the semiconductor industry to its history in electronics.
According to him, India was a "classic case of missed opportunity" in semiconductors for 75 years because the previous UPA administration disregarded electronics.
When Intel failed to receive enough backing in 2012 to establish a factory here, the company withdrew its plans. We knew we had to move quickly and intelligently when the prime minister unveiled this semiconductor program in January 2020; we essentially had to make up for the previous 75 years of missed opportunities.
"We have achieved remarkable strides in a wide range of domains: semiconductor design, startups, research, talent, packaging, and fabrication," Chandrasekhar declared.
Domestic electronics manufacturing surged fourfold to Rs 8.22 lakh crore in the last decade, according to government data.
The electronics manufacturing industry has had remarkable growth, going from Rs 1,80,454 crore (USD 29.8 billion) in FY 2013–14 to Rs 8,22,350 crore (USD 102 billion) in FY 2022–23, and is projected to reach an even higher level of Rs 23,95,195 crore (USD 300 billion) by 2026.
Prior to the budget, Chandrasekhar penned a letter requesting that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lower the import duty on electronic components. This would help the country's exports develop.
The minister credited Andrew Grove's "Only the Paranoid Survive..." as a source of wisdom. Grove was the minister's boss and Intel's previous CEO.
Being paranoid is something I believe in. I think it's important for us as a country to always be grateful for our leaders. I apologize if we were misleading in my letter to the minister of finance. When pressed further, Chandrasekhar revealed that the letter had served to highlight India's great chance to shift its manufacturing focus from import substitution to export.
He claimed that China is no longer the main hub for the global value chain supply of electronics, and that the focus is now on finding other locations.
That change has been significantly influenced by India in the past five years. Between now and the year 2020, India will be a major player. When it came to the production of electronic goods, we disappeared virtually entirely. The CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, phrased it this way. India did not have any Apple phone manufacturing going on three years ago. One hundred percent of all mobile phones were being imported. The minister announced that mobile phones from Apple and Samsung were exported for 10 to 12 billion dollars today.
He gushed about how remarkable the growth had been.
Reaching the peak is our prime minister's ultimate goal. No matter what I say before the budget or how we feel about the budget, our goal is to build on our accomplishments. The minister shared the prime minister's goal of achieving $300 billion in electronics industry by 2026–27.
Once an importer in the mobile phone market, India is now an exporter, with domestic manufacturing accounting for 99.2% of the country's mobile handsets, according to government statistics.
"We have an absolutely clear view in the government and the prime minister, that smartphones IT, laptops, servers or hardware is an area that we want to be global champions and leaders and play the role of being a very trusted partner to the GVCs for enterprises, governments and people of the world," said Chandrasekhar.
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