The semiconductor ecosystem in India

The semiconductor has become a very important component as it touches each of our lives in many ways. ?Globally, it is a much-sought out. All leading technologies are dependent on it. Lets look at some of the areas where semiconductors are used.

Transistors - Semiconductors are the foundation of transistors.? Smartphones to tablets to laptops have transistors. They’re also used for many other purposes like solar panels or medical imaging equipment. Computing - Semiconductors are the building blocks of modern computing. The huge demand for semiconductors is due to the essentiality in computers. They provide processing power and allows for parallel processing and handling computation needs for AI and ML algorithms. ?Appliances - Fridges, microwaves, washing machines, air conditioners, and other machines around the home and office operate thanks to semiconductors, and are making our lives easy and convenient. Banking, Security, Healthcare, Transportation, Manufacturing etc

The global semiconductor market is projected to reach $1,883.7 billion by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 12.28% from 2023 to 2032. In 2022, the market size was $591.8 billion.

Today Taiwan is the world's top semiconductor manufacturing country, with 77 fabrication plants as of December 2022. The biggest Taiwanese semiconductor company is TSMC, which makes microchips for Intel, Apple, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm.

A significant demand is being seen for 28 nanometres and above for automotive, for telecom, for power, for power electronics, for train sets, day-to-day household appliances etc.?

India wants to build a robust, vibrant, and competitive presence in the global semiconductor ecosystem in the next ten years. The Government of India has set up the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) to build a vibrant semiconductor and display ecosystem to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design.? India is looking to develop the complete ecosystem of semiconductors, including design capabilities and manufacturing software and hardware.

The Indian government has approved the Semicon India programme with a total outlay of INR 76,000 crore for the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country. The programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem. This will serve to pave the way for India’s growing presence in the global electronics value chains. There are four schemes –

1.?????? Scheme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs ?

2.?????? Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs ?

3.?????? Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab / Discrete Semiconductors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) / OSAT facilities.

4.?????? Semicon India Future Design: Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme offers financial incentives, design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design. ?

Some foreign investments being made as follows

·?????? US-based Micron Technology is investing upto USD 2.70 billion in a semiconductor facility at Sanand Gujarat.

·?????? Foxconn has declared investing over USD 1.2 billion in India. It has executed an agreement to build a manufacturing facility for electronic components in Tamil Nadu.?

·?????? AMD has announced an investment of around $ 400 million for the world’s largest research and development facility for the company.

·?????? Applied Materials has announced investment of $ 400 million in India for a collaborative engineering centre in Bengaluru, for development and commercialisation of technologies for semiconductor manufacturing equipment.

·?????? Prominent industry suppliers, such as Simmtech and Air Liquide are engaged in discussions with the Central Government to initiate their operations in India.

·?????? India and Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation involving innovation and technology exchange– to bolster the semiconductor sector in both countries.

·?????? Sahasra Semiconductors has set up a semiconductor assembly test, and packaging unit in Rajasthan

India’s biggest priority is on design and has about 300,000 design engineers and will actually produce the complete chip. The second focus is on training talent, upgrade course curriculums. For eg, there is a collaboration with a company who have set up their most advanced training system called Semiverse, which will train 6000 technicians in semiconductor manufacturing. The government has tied up with 104 universities, redesigned the entire course curriculum, and tied up with international institutions including the University of Purdue.

The future looks bright for the semiconductor industry in India!