Centre announces $2 bn investment in Mohali's Semiconductor Laboratory

Around 27 startups have emerged in the country's semiconductor industry in recent years, said Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Friday said that the Centre will invest $2 billion in the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali for research and prototyping.

He was addressing a gathering of students, young innovators, industry stakeholders and others at IIT Delhi.

The minister stated that the government will build the India Semiconductor Research Institute as a centre of excellence, which will work with institutes like IIT Delhi, IIT Chennai, and others.

The minister also encouraged students to work and start-up in deep-tech fields such as semiconductors, quantum technology, and artificial intelligence.

"You are the most fortunate generation of students in the history of independent India," he said.

The minister said that the government has designed a semiconductor education curriculum for higher education institutions in consultation with the industry, which will enable India to become a worldwide talent pool in semiconductor design.

He said that around 27 startups have emerged in the country's semiconductor industry in recent years.

The government's priority is to quickly raise this figure to 100, he added.

The Centre has earmarked around Rs 1,100–1,200 crore to support semiconductor design startups in the country. It has also proposed a Rs 76,000 crore production-linked incentive programme to encourage chip manufacturing companies to establish fabs in the country.

In another development, a report by Counterpoint Research and the India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) said that India's semiconductor market will touch $64 billion by 2026, almost three times its 2019 size of $22.7 billion.

The country's telecom stack and industrial applications will account for two-thirds of the total market share, it added.

"India is committed to becoming a reliable partner in global supply chains and we are working towards that by framing long-term policies, keeping the next 25 years in mind," Amitesh Kumar Sinha, joint secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said.