New Delhi, June 24 (FN Bureau) Three key announcements pertaining to the semiconductor industry made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States has given a boost to the industry and help in achieving the goal of developing a complete semiconductor ecosystem in India. An release from Southern Railway said Semiconductor chips are at the core of several items such as mobile phones, laptops, TV, cars, trains, etc. being used in daily lives. Mr Modi has given India the vision of developing the semiconductor ecosystem within the country. On January one, 2022, India’s semiconductor program was announced. it has a clear focus on developing holistic semiconductor ecosystem in India. “The three announcements related to semiconductors made by Mr Modi in US are an important milestone in our journey towards developing the semiconductor ecosystem”, it said. The first announcement is Micron Technology Inc. will invest 2.75 billion dollars (more than Rs.22,000 crore) in the next five years to build a new semiconductor unit in India. Micron is among top 10 largest semiconductor companies in the world.
Micron’s India unit will manufacture memory and storage products used in PCs, network equipment and data centers. This unit will provide direct employment to 5,000 persons and indirect jobs to 15,000 people. The second announcement is that Applied Materials will invest more than 400 million US dollars (Rs.3,000 crore) in the next four years to set up a collaborative engineering centre in Bengaluru. Applied Materials is a leading supplier of semiconductor equipment, services and software. The third announcement is that Lam Research will join hands with the India Semiconductor Mission to train talent for semiconductor industry. Lam’s “Semiverse” virtual solution will be used for training 60,000 engineers in India over the next 10 years. These announcements will prove to be major breakthroughs for India achieving the goal of developing complete semiconductor ecosystem. Successive governments have tried to build semiconductor industry in India over the last 40 years. However, only now, as a result of Mr Modi’s visionary leadership, India’s dream is getting fulfilled. The entire world is looking at India as a trusted partner in semiconductor supply chain, the release said.