India looks to Singapore firms to support its semiconductor plans

Newly signed MOU fostering private-sector partnerships between Indian and S'pore firms

- Nirmala Ganapathy

Mr Mujeeb Mundayil, managing director of Singapore start-up Cleantech Services, is feeling optimistic about his firm's expansion plans, which include setting up a manufacturing unit in India to tap opportunities in the nascent semiconductor industry.

The firm, which provides gas and chemical supply equipment and systems used in chip manufacturing, is in talks with Micron, Tata Group and other semiconductor companies that are among the early movers in India's fledgling yet ambitious plan to become a semiconductor hub.

Singapore and India signed a semiconductor memorandum of understanding (MOU) during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Republic from Sept 4 to 5, to help facilitate the entry of Singapore companies - including ancillary businesses in the semiconductor industry like Cleantech and supply chains in the Indian market.

"We now see momentum is there (in India) and it is building up," noted Mr Mundayil, whose threeyear-old firm expanded into India two years ago.

Cleantech, which also supplies equipment for the solar industry, currently brings equipment into India from South Korea.

"But because customers like Tata and Micron are talking to us, when we have heavy volume, we will start local manufacturing," Mr Mundayil told The Straits Times, adding that the start-up is looking at an initial investment of at least $1 million.

India's semiconductor industry is at a very initial stage, with units under construction in different parts of the country.

India's Tata Electronics, a venture of the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, is building an assembly and testing unit in the north-eastern Assam state.

It has also partnered with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp to build India's first semiconductor fab with an investment of US$11 billion (S$14 billion) and manufacturing capacity of up to 50,000 wafers per month in the western Gujarat state.