Cabinet Clears India's First Semiconductor Fab In Dholera, Two ATMP Plants In Assam And Gujarat

Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday (29 February) announced the approval granted to three semiconductor plants by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led cabinet.

India's first semiconductor fab is set to be built under the collaboration of Tata Group and Taiwan's PSMC in the Dholera Special Industrial Region of Gujarat. The cumulative investment will be of Rs 1.26 lakh crore, of which Rs 91,000 crore will be invested in fab.

This fab will produce 50,000 wafers per month, which means that 3 billion chips will be produced annually. Minister Vaishnaw said, "Semiconductor is a foundational industry with many downstream uses."

These chips will cater to eight sectors — high power computing, electric vehicles, telecom, defence, consumer electronics, automobile and power electronics — pushing India towards self-reliance.

Vaishnaw highlighted previous unsuccessful attempts in 1962, 1980, 1984, 2005, 2007 and 2011 and said that success could be achieved only under Prime Minister Modi's leadership.

The Electronics Minister added, "The foundation stone of this facility will be laid soon. As you saw in Micron's case, within 90 days actual construction began on the ground, similarly within 100 days, construction for this plant will begin."

He informed the media that two other projects in the semiconductor sector of ATMP units were also approved. One is the country's third semiconductor unit in Assam with an investment of Rs 27,000 crore.

He highlighted that the Tata Assembly and Test Pvt Ltd plant could produce 48 million chips per day and these chips would be used by automobile companies. He reiterated the target to start construction within 100 days.

The other plant will be in Gujarat's Sanand, which will be established by Japan's Renesas and CG Power with an investment of Rs 7,600 crore. Its capacity will be 15 million chips per day and it will cater to niche sectors.

Vaishnaw explained that 104 universities are offering semiconductor-focused courses and prerequisites of a semiconductor plant were already fulfilled.

"India designs the world's most complex chips with three lakh design engineers. After the design, the second thing in the value chain is fab, which was approved today. Then comes ATMP," Vaishnaw said asserting that India now has a full value chain of semiconductors.