Govt to train 85,000 engineers in semiconductor manufacturing: Ashwini Vaishnaw

India is aiming to become self-reliant, and the government has announced industry-friendly measures for the development of semiconductors and the display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

Union Cabinet’s approval of a financial outlay of Rs 76,000 crore for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in India has received a phenomenal response from across the world, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics & Information Technology said during the BT Budget Roundtable 2022 today. The semiconductor scheme announced incentives for every part of the supply chain including electronic components, sub-assemblies, and finished goods. In December last year, the government announced industry-friendly measures for the development of the semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

“December 15 is when the Cabinet approved the scheme. Within 15 days, we launched all the schemes, we set the portal up and running. On January 1 onwards, we started receiving the applications. I'm very happy to share with you that the response has been phenomenal. Throughout the world, the big players in the semiconductor industry have noticed one major thing – we have given a clear assurance and a roadmap for 20 years - which is very different from ‘I'm willing to put in so many billions of dollars, please come to my country’,” said the minister.

The government has looked at the entire picture, not just silicon fab, display fab, compound semiconductor, and design ecosystem. “Above all, what the entire industry is appreciating is that we are committed to preparing 85,000 semiconductor engineers, and we have already shortlisted the institutions in which they will be trained,” added minister Vaishnaw. The government is working with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) right now, to prepare to finalize the course curriculum.

“Because this is an industry (semiconductor), where if you lay the foundation today, we will start getting the results in three years, four years, five years. If the foundation is strong, the results will continue to give us buoyancy protection cases. So that's the thought process,” added minister Vaishnaw.

Responding to Business Today’s question on whether Intel has plans for setting up fab in India, the minister responded that he wouldn't take names of any companies who are considering the scheme.

The scheme announced by the government for setting up of semiconductor fabs and display fabs in India shall extend fiscal support of up to 50 per cent of project cost on the pari-passu basis to applicants who are found eligible and have the technology as well as capacity to execute such highly capital intensive and resource incentive projects. The government of India will work closely with the state governments to establish High-Tech Clusters with requisite infrastructure in terms of land, semiconductor grade water, high-quality power, logistics and research ecosystem to approve applications for setting up at least two greenfield semiconductor fabs and two display fabs in the country. 

In addition, the scheme for setting up of compound semiconductors/silicon photonics/sensors (including MEMS) fabs and semiconductor ATMP/OSAT facilities in India shall extend fiscal support of 30 per cent of capital expenditure to approved units. At least 15 such units of compound semiconductors and semiconductor packaging are expected to be established with government support under this scheme. The Union Cabinet also approved the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to take requisite steps for the modernisation and commercialisation of semiconductors. 

In addition, to promote the fabless ecosystem in India, the government has announced design linked incentives as well and will offer up to 50 per cent of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentives of 6-4 per cent on net sales for five years. Support will be provided to 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for integrated circuits (ICs), chipsets, system on chips (SoCs), systems & IP cores and semiconductor linked to design and facilitating the growth of not less than 20 such companies which can achieve turnover of more than Rs 1,500 crore in the coming five years. The government has also announced a C2S – chips to startup – programme that will train 85,000 engineers to work in the semiconductor ecosystem.

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