India's advantages will win it investments in semiconductors but be patient: Miller

India must be patient with its semiconductor objectives and realise it is the hardest industry and technology invented, but the country also has a set of advantages to be in a position to win investments at different stages of the production cycle, Chris Miller, one of the world's most authoritative experts on semiconductors, has said

- Prashant Jha

These advantages include the parallel rise of an electronics manufacturing ecosystem, talent in terms of chip designers, and the generous support provided by the government, Miller noted.

Miller, the author of Chip War: The Fight for the World's Most Critical Technology, and an associate professor at Tufts University, also said that American export and investment restrictions on China in the domain are driven by a desire in the United States (US) to stop American technology from supporting China's military modernisation, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI).

The impact of these restrictions will become more visible over the years, but Miller said China remains substantially behind and will confront a deficit of capabilities for much of this decade and beyond.

The complex supply chain

In a conversation with HT on Friday, Miller explained the complexity of the semiconductor ecosystem supply chain and the concentration of power in the hands of a few companies.

"A semiconductor is a small device, in most cases the size of your fingernail. And they are used to manipulate electric currents for computing. Today there are different types of semiconductors -some remember data and some process data. Some turn realworld signals into ones and zeros.

But all of the computing that happens today happens thanks to semiconductors," Miller said.

These chips are generally made of silicon and into the silicon are carved millions, often billions, of microscopic switches called transistors, which flip on and off, turning circuits on and off. Just the primary chip in a smartphone includes ten to 20 billion transistors, "each of them roughly the size of a coronavirus".

Miller said the semiconductor ecosystem includes multiple steps. One, it requires a complex and sophisticated design software, where a few firms in US enjoy a dominant position.