Meity timeline for chip production in the works

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) is finalising a timeline for the commercial production of semiconductor wafers and chips from projects already approved by the government, as it intensifies its focus on execution, according to official sources.

- SURAJEET DAS GUPTA

The first project expected to begin production is Micron's $2.7 billion chip testing and packaging plant, slated to roll out the first commercial "made-in-India" chips by mid-2025, potentially around August 15, according to a senior ministry official.

Micron's ATMP/OSAT (assembly, testing, marking, and packing/outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing) facility in Gujarat's Sanand was the first semiconductor project cleared under the government's ₹76,000 crore semiconductor scheme, Semicon India, in January 2023. Initially, the company's India facility was expected to produce chips by December 2024.

The Tata group (Tata Electronics), which has committed ₹91,000 crore to set up India's first semiconductor fabrication facility, cleared in February 2024, will take about three and a half years to begin wafer production at the Dholera facility in Gujarat, the official said.