Govt To Invest Almost $2 Billion In Semiconductor Laboratory Mohali: MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The government is investing almost $2 billion in upgrading Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali for research and prototyping, said Minister of State for IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said that the government is investing almost $2 billion in upgrading Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali for research and prototyping. Speaking at the 3rd SemiconIndia Future Design Roadshow at IIT Delhi Chandrasekhar said that a slew of measures for the semiconductor sector has been put in place by the government, including setting up an Indian Semiconductor research center (ISRC) that will work in collaboration with top institutions like the IITs for coming up with cutting edge semiconductor research, modernisation of Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) and implementation of the VLSI/ semiconductor curriculum that will deliver a talent pool of 85,000 who will create innovative designs and solutions.

MoS IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "The primary objective of this initiative is to attract investments from across the world and help build a vibrant semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem. PM Modi has announced Rs 76,000 crores as outlay for semiconductor sector to fulfill the vision of AtmaNirbhar Bharat. Already there are 27-28 Semicon startups and the number will soon go up to 100, with the government’s policy support.”

"Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), which is the government's fab is going to be upgraded at an investment of almost $2 billion and will also be part of the research and prototyping capacities," he added. 

Earlier, it was reported by Bussines Standard that the government will spend around $1.2 billion to modernise the Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali, a 30-year-old facility currently capable of producing 8-inch CMOS microchip wafers. 

The digital economy has now expanded from one being centered around IT/ITES to one that covers the entire spectrum of Technology - Deep Tech, AI, Space, and Semiconductors. The Government is working in collaboration with industry, startups, and academia to transform India from a consumer of technology to a producer of technology, and for achieving our $1Trillion digital economy goal, the Minister said.

Chandrasekhar encouraged students to work and start-up in deep-tech fields such as semiconductors, quantum technology, and artificial intelligence.

 

"You are the most fortunate generation of students in the history of independent India," he said.

During the 3rd SemiconIndia Future Design Roadshow, futureDESIGN Start-ups, Morphing Machines, and Netrasemi have been approved under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme. 

Morphing machines is focusing on a dynamic runtime reconfigurable RISC-V many cores accelerator, with near ASIC performance across diverse domains & heterogeneous applications, all on the same homogeneous fabric. Netrasemi is providing edge AI chipsets, platforms enabling smart vision, and domain-specific SoC solutions with advanced AI/ML and hardware acceleration capabilities.