CDIL 1st Indian firm to make silicon carbide chips, starts unit in Mohali

CDIL Semiconductors has also partnered with the government's Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali

Continental Device India Pvt Ltd (CDIL) on Thursday said it has become the first company to start producing Silicon Carbide devices — used in electric vehicles (EV) and power electronics — in India. It opened a new semiconductor packaging line at its Mohali plant, taking its annual manufacturing capacity to 600 million units.

CDIL Semiconductors, which claims to be the first company to introduce silicon semiconductor technology in India in 1964, has also partnered with the government's Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali. As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and CDIL, the latter will utilise the semiconductor wafer fabrication facility for its new packaging unit.

The development comes a week after MeitY invited commercial and technology players with the necessary technological and operational expertise to modernise the SCL facility that serves as the only semiconductor fab unit in the country. The plant, which has supplied chips for strategic needs of the government including space exploration programmes and defence, might be transformed into either a Research and Development (R&D) site for chip making or an "at-scale" manufacturing.

Before launching the new packaging line at its own plant, CDIL did pilot production in August with 50 million units and delivered its inaugural batch to customers in both the domestic and international markets. The company operates manufacturing facilities and a reliability lab in Mohali and Delhi, serving industries with a strong emphasis on the Automotive, Defence, and Aerospace sectors. It has its customer base spread across the world.

"It's heartening to see CDIL taking the lead in packaging of discrete semiconductor devices. Earlier, they also had a fabrication facility. I hope CDIL will also consider setting up a discrete fab in the country by availing financial support under the Semicon India programme in the future. As CDIL and SCL join hands for knowledge exchange, India can look forward to more indigenous chip manufacturing and packaging for India and the world in the upcoming future," said Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Joint Secretary, MeitY.

With a rapid demand from EV manufacturers, as well as suppliers of power management devices and solar-powered panels, SiC devices have emerged as a critical component. In a recent interview with Business Standard, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Communications and IT emphasised the need for focusing on such "niche" opportunities in semiconductors.

Prithvideep Singh, General Manager, CDIL said: "Even though SiC devices are notoriously hard to manufacture at scale, we have spent effort and investment to master them. CDIL has been able to innovate on the brittleness and complexity around the production of SiC devices and has earned the resounding approval of large multinational customers in export markets."