Micron: Govt clears Rs 22,000cr Micron investment for chip project – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Ahead of PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, the union cabinet cleared a Rs 22,500 crore ($2.7 billion) investment by American chipmaker Micron for setting up a semiconductor unit in the country.
Micron is amongst the top semiconductor companies in the world, and plans to set up a semiconductor testing and packaging unit – one of the critical jobs in the journey of chip manufacturing – within the country.
The decision is expected to be announced while Modi is in the US with the PM scheduled to meet Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. The facility is expected to generate over 5,000 jobs.
“Micron’s proposal has been cleared by the Union Cabinet and we expect that the decision will not only help strengthen India’s bid for setting up a wholistic semiconductor eco-system in the country, but will also help attract new players to look at the country favourably,” said a source.
While there is no confirmation as yet on where Micron’s unit will be located, it is believed that Gujarat remains a front-runner for bagging the coveted project.
India, which is not only one of the world’s top electronics and automobile producers but an equally big consumer as well, has long been feeling the absence of a semiconductor eco-system within the country. This comes at a time when there is a global clamour to attract semiconductor investments, especially as Taiwan – one of the key manufacturers of chips — faces tensions in its relations with China.
Currently, there is no unit in India which manufactures semiconductor fab, and this had prompted the government to announce a Rs 76,000 crore incentive package for attracting companies in the technologically-sophisticated industry in December 2021.
The incentive plan had not resulted in immediate success, even though there had been a joint proposal by Vedanta and Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn. The proposal though has failed to materialise so far as the two companies have not been able to get a technology partner within their fold.
India has been also wooing top global semiconductor makers such as Taiwanese TSMC, GlobalFoundries, Intel, and Samsung to invest in the country. Most of the companies are already in an expansion mode across continents and, while believing in the long-term potential of India as a business market, have adopted a wait-and-watch stance.
And as India awaits semiconductor investments, it has said that it will develop 100 semiconductor design startups by the end of next year as the country bolster the eco-system for the technology.
Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar said recently that from near zero levels just a year-and-half ago, India is now well on its way to having 100 semiconductor design start-ups by 2024. Currently as many as 27-30 design and semiconductor start-ups are “doing very good work”, he added.
Citing global companies like Apple, Cisco and Samsung that have deepened their commitments in India, Chandrasekhar, who is Minister of State for Electronics and IT, said the country’s role in the future of technology and global supply and value chain as well as innovation ecosystem “is firmly established”.
The government is also working with top Indian universities to develop a talent pool to cater to the semiconductor industry.
The government remains confident that the growth in production and consumption of automobiles, smartphones, IoT and other electronics devices will lead to a boom in the demand for semiconductors within the country, prompting some of the top makers to look at the country favourably.