Throughout my career, people kept asking when India would become a part of the semiconductor industry.” Today, I can say that this journey has started. India will become the next semiconductor powerhouse of Asia, says Ajit Manocha, President of America-based SEMI (Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International).
Ajit Manocha said this in the ‘Semicon India 2023’ event organised to build the semiconductor ecosystem in the country a few days ago.
In 2021, the present government started the ‘Indian Semiconductor Mission with an amount of 76,000 crore rupees. Under the mission, the country is envisaged to become self-reliant in the semiconductor industry in the near future. It is because of this that Semicon-India was organised in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Produced from rare earth materials like silicon, germanium, and such, a semiconductor is an electronic device. It wields both the capacity to make current flow or obstruct it. This is a part of power-efficient technology that saves electricity. Be it remembered that due to its scarcity, the country has faced a shortage of electric-run vehicles a few months ago.
During Modi’s visit to America, a deal was signed with its chip manufacturing company, Micron, which will set up its unit in Gujarat to produce semiconductor chips for India and also for export to the world. The project will create around 5,000 new jobs as well. However, India is moving ahead with the target of creating 85,000 semiconductor engineers within the next 5 years. The courses affiliated with semiconductor technology are available in 300 colleges at present.
The world no longer wants to take a risk by mortgaging its reliance on one or two countries like Taiwan or China for strategically indispensable components like semiconductors. Therefore, it has begun to look towards a democratic and more policy-consistent India as a better alternative. Increasing infrastructure networks, digitalization, a reduction in the corporate tax, and, above all, results visible on the ground have bolstered the trust of the world in India ever more. This could be realized in one instance as well. Today, mobile manufacturing has touched the figure of 4 lakh crores in the country. Apple is today launching its latest iPhone in India. Samsung’s giga factory is also working on record production. Once totally dependent on imports, India today has become the second-best mobile manufacturing hub’ in the world. Ashwini Vaishnav, Electronics and Information Technology Minister
But like mobile phones, the production of laptops, computers, and tablets may also flourish in the country itself, as their import is now banned. Two years ago, a PLI scheme was started in this sector, the result of which is now beginning to be seen. But the overall success of it lies in the fact that the semiconductor is also produced in the country, as it is an indispensable component of electronics goods. It should be noted that most of the electronics products have been imported from China so far.
Participating in ‘Semicon India 2023, the CEO of Applied Materials, Prabhu Raja, said what must be heard: ‘No country or company could face all the challenges in this field lonehanded. Meanwhile, Anil Agrawal anticipated that within 2.5 years, make-in-India chips would be ready to come on the market.