Cabinet Approves Four Semiconductor Plants under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)

The four semiconductors projects sanctioned by the union cabinet under the India Semiconductor Mission is a very big step in increasing the semiconductor fabrication capability in India. These projects on an investment of 4,594 crores will expand India as a leader in the emerging semiconductor industry, especially the silicon carbide technology. Such efforts will also provide a robust base for India to be self-reliant in manufacturing semiconductors to enhance perceived innovation with a boost to the economy. India is also inching towards becoming a global leader in semiconductors as it is on the way to developing more capabilities in semiconductors.

Cabinet Approval:

• The Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to four semiconductor schemes under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM).
• These projects combined total 4594 crores.
• The projects boost the 76,000 crore ISM that facilitates semiconductor manufacturing plants in India.

Project Locations:

• There are two projects that will be at Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
• One of the projects will be in Punjab.
• The project in Andhra Pradesh will be one among them and the final location has not been fixed yet.

Projects information:

• SiCSem (Bhubaneswar, Odisha) - A plant to manufacture silicon carbide integrated components.
• In India, the president was growing an old discrete semiconductor manufacturing plant in Mohali, Punjab as Continental Device India Private Limited.
• Fourth is 3D Glass Solutions Inc. (Bhubaneswar, Odisha) - vertical, full-stack advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate facility.
• Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies (Andhra Pradesh) - A chip group (place awaited).

Strategic Importance:

• Speaking later, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology said he feels stuff like silicon carbide technology, which is a developing field important in many applications, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy, was strategically important to work on.
• IIT Bhubaneswar has already invested heavily, such as investing 45 crores in a silicon carbide research unit which showed good outcomes.

Advancements of Semiconductor:

• The new projects now see ISM having a total of 10 semiconductor units.
• This means that the first chip out of the six last units would be rolled out this year but the end of the year will be an achievement in the development of semiconductor manufacturing in India.

Conclusion

These are fab investments which are going to be a milestone on the road to India achieving technological independence. India can be able to support the domestic requirement as well as it can contribute much to the semiconductor market globally by developing in the most critical sectors such as the silicon carbide. Such investments and sustained growth of these projects will place the country high as a tech hub.