The new semiconductor game plan

With Micron's plant, Vedanta's new partnership, and AMD and Applied Materials' million-dollar ventures, India's networking market could get a major boost

- VERNIKA AWAL

On 22 June, US memory chip major Micron became the first benefactor of India's USD 10 billion semiconductor production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme. A month later, the Centre hosted Semicon India 2023, the largest semiconductor conference in India to date. Helmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the event featured multiple notable stakeholders of the global semiconductor industry, including Young Liu, Chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), Mark Papermaster, CTO of AMD, and more.

The spree of activity in the semiconductor space saw India draw a spate of investments, with Micron's USD 825 million (which adds up to USD 2.75 billion including government subsidy), and Applied Materials and AMD's USD 400 million each leading the fray. This could have a far-reaching impact on India's quest to build its semiconductor ecosystem and play a major strategic role in the long run.

ARE THE INVESTMENTS SIGNIFICANT?

For a start, yes. Industry experts say that the biggest advantage that India will draw from Semicon India and its peripheral announcements is in signalling firms in the semiconductor supply chain to consider setting up shop in India.

For instance, with Applied Materials and AMD setting up engineering and research operations in India, the two companies will contribute to generating chip design and research in the country. This, in turn, will see them supply these designs to startups and smaller chip design firms, who can licence these technologies to build custom chips for various purposes.

But, to do so, these startups will require companies to offer supply chain solutions, such as raw ingredients, specialised machinery, skilled workforce and more for these chips to be built and designed.

It is for this that groundwork is being laid down, and Semicon India was pivotal to that effect.