Companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics Co. in South Korea are investing tens of billions of dollars each year to boost their output capacity, and India is in talks with some of the industry’s behemoths to lure them into the country. Their expansion comes at a time when countries all over the world are devoting more money to securing indigenous chip production.
“India is right there squarely on their global plans whether it is Intel, GlobalFoundries,” Vaishnaw told Bloomberg. “TSMC is still taking more time, but other big ones are very serious in their plans.”
To lure display and semiconductor manufacturers to set up shop in India, the government announced a $10 billion incentive package late last year, pledging to cover up to half of a project’s cost.
According to Vaishnaw, India’s democracy and talent pool set it apart from other countries fighting for chip sovereignty.
ETtech
reported on April 25 that chipmaker Intel is in advanced talks with Karnataka for setting up a plant in water-abundant Mysuru, as southern states jostle to snag one of the proposed multi-billion semiconductor plants.
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ISMC Digital Fab, a joint venture between venture fund NextOrbit and Intel-owned Israeli tech company Tower, had originally announced a plant in Dholera, Gujarat. But with the coming of the Rs 76,000-crore chipmaking and designing incentive scheme last year, states have doubled interest in offering their own sops for prospective investors.
Karnataka is hoping to announce the relocation of ISMC closer to PM Narendra Modi’s inaugural of the country’s first Semicon India conference in Bengaluru. With the Vedanta-Foxconn JV and Singapore-based IGSS also looking for land, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Gujarat are locked in a fierce tussle for bagging plants by one-upping their own incentives, which could see investments worth $3-5 billion each.
