'Should have good success in coming months': IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on India's first semiconductor fab

India’s ambitions to become a semiconductor hub may get a significant boost in the coming months, according to the IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. The nation’s first electronic chip production facility is projected to be up and running within the next year, backed by an initial government subsidy of USD 10 billion allocated for the establishment of semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure, which includes a wafer fabrication unit.

"We are focussing on some niche area where we can take global leadership. Telecom and EV (electric vehicles) have emerged as a big segment for semiconductors. If we focus on developing and manufacturing chips used in these segments then we can become global leaders in these two segments,” Vaishnaw said.

The minister claimed that efforts are being directed towards these sectors. "We should have some good success in the coming months. It will be fab (wafer fabrication), design, manufacturing, complete (ecosystem),” Vaishnaw said. When asked if the developments would come after a year, he responded, "No. We will see success very soon."

Vaishnaw also highlighted the investment of US-based storage chip manufacturer Micron in India. He claimed that the company has reassured the global community about India’s potential. Last month, Micron began the construction of a semiconductor assembly plant at Sanand in Gujarat with a total investment of USD 2.75 billion.

The minister disclosed that Micron’s component suppliers are also at an advanced stage of land identification in partnership with the state government. 

"As per information shared with me, five companies (Micron partners) have come in. Land identification process is on. One of their (Micron's) biggest ecosystem partners, which makes substrate, is already in the land allocation process," Vaishnaw said. 

The government has already established a timeline to commercially launch the first homegrown chipsets by 2023-24 under the Digital India RISC -V programme. IIT Madras and the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC) have engineered two microprocessors named Shakti (32-bit) and Vega (64-bit) respectively using Open Source Architecture.

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