Global chip manufacturers tapping huge potential in India: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The Assembly, Test, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) of Micron is being set up on 93 acres in Sanand GIDC-II industrial estate. It is expected to be commissioned within 18 months. The facility will focus on transforming wafers into Ball Grid Array (BGA) – integrated circuit packages, memory modules and solid-state drives

Global chip manufacturers have realised India’s potential and all set to explore and tap the opportunity that is presenting itself.

Among the early birds is US-based Micron Technology with its trail-blazing Rs 22,500 crore facility that will take India’s semiconductor journey to newer heights, said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

Saying that the first 'Make in India' chip from Micron’s plant is most likely to come in December 2024, the Railways minister said the pace with which Micron began work on its Sanand project is highly commendable and hugely encouraging.

"This plant sets a major milestone for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of making India a semiconductor hub — the way the country has achieved in sectors like mobile, electronics, defense, railways, aviation and multiple other areas where progress is visible," the IT Minister emphasised.

The Micron plant at Sanand will work as a foundational industry, in order to create such foundational industries across the country.

The Assembly, Test, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) of Micron is being set up on 93 acres in Sanand GIDC-II industrial estate. It is expected to be commissioned within 18 months. The facility will focus on transforming wafers into Ball Grid Array (BGA) – integrated circuit packages, memory modules and solid-state drives. The Union Government has also received a couple of more semiconductor manufacturing proposals and an announcement will be made soon, he said.

"Chips today are an integral part of our lives. The semiconductor manufacturing is also going to help the IT hardware PLI 2.0 in a very big way because this PLI has special incentives for chips which are manufactured in India," Vaishnaw said.

More than 45 companies have submitted applications under PLI Hardware 2.0 and "many of them are already in the process of setting up their plants," the minister noted.

From about Rs two lakh crore as of now, India will see demand for semiconductors to increase to Rs five lakh crore in the next few years, he added. Vaishnaw also said a high-speed train will start plying between Ahmedabad and Sanand in the next six months.