India is set to welcome three new semiconductor chip fabrication units in the next few months, attracting investments from $8 billion to $12 billion, according to an announcement made by Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, the media has reported. This follows semiconductor giant AMD's opening its largest global design centre, the AMD Technostar R&D campus, in the southern Indian state of Bengaluru on Tuesday (November 28), as part of a significant expansion of its research and engineering operations in the country.
"In another few months, I can share that we will get at least three more units, fabricating advanced technologies of chips in the country," the Union minister was quoted as saying during the inauguration of the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) design centre in Bengaluru.
The ground breaking ceremony of the first chip packing facility in the country, by Micron, was held in Gujarat in September.
Micron's semiconductor plant, unveiled in June, started construction in September 2023. The rapid progress in development has significantly bolstered confidence in India's semiconductor mission, added the Union minister.
To recall, the Gujarat government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US-based computer storage chip maker Micron in June, in a bid to set up a $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility at Sanand, in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat. This will be the first semiconductor manufacturing facility in India, Vaishnaw had said. He had further said that the first chips will be manufactured within 18 months.
It is pertinent to note that the global semiconductor industry is experiencing a significant shift, led by countries such as TSMC, South Korea and Intel and the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted weaknesses in this global supply chain, as shutdowns and disruptions had widespread impacts across smartphone and other industries. This underscores the crucial need to diversify sources for critical components.