According to the State of Electronics and IT minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the government will be investing over USD 2 billion for the upgradation of the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali.While addressing the third SemiconIndia Future Design Roadshow at IIT Delhi, Chandrasekhar noted that the government has put in place several initiatives for the semiconductor industry, including the creation of an Indian Semiconductor Research Centre (ISRC) that will collaborate with prestigious universities like the IITs to develop cutting edge semiconductor research, the modernisation of Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), and the adoption of the VLSI/ semiconductor curriculum.According to the minister, the primary objective of the initiative is to attract investment from across the world, which will help build a vibrant semiconductors sector to fulfil the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. According to them, there are 27-28 Semicon startups and it is also anticipated that the numbers will soon go up to 100.As per sources, the government is planning to spend USD 1.2 billion for the modernisation of the Semiconductor Laboratory, notably, it is a 30-year-old laboratory which is currently capable of producing 8-inch CMOS microchip wafers.We are working on a mission mode under PM @narendramodis leadership to achieve in the next 10 years that China took 30 years to achieve in electronics & semiconductors. – MoS @Rajeev_GoI @Semicon_India @alkesh12sharma @GoI_MeitY #DigitalIndia @Electronics_GoI #NewIndia pic.twitter.com/KyWh3zOWZ1— Digital India (@_DigitalIndia) May 12, 2023The governments USD 10 billion India Semiconductor Mission, which was first proposed in 2021, includes the facilitys planned modernisation and commercialisation. In July 2022, the Union Cabinet adopted a modernisation plan that calls for the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) to consider forming a joint venture (JV) with one or more commercial fab partners. A planned timetable for the project, however, has not been offered by the government.The minister stated that following the upgrading, the fab will also lend itself to the ecosystem of research and prototyping capacities for semiconductors in a speech at the SemiconIndia FutureDESIGN exhibition in Delhi. To establish Centres of Excellence (CoE) on university campuses, he continued, the India Semiconductor Research Centre will soon be established for “cutting-edge research” and will serve as a hub in a spoke of academic institutions like IITs.According to official projections, the Indian semiconductor market will increase gradually, or 10 percent of the global market, by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent.
