Prez Biden, PM Modi announce plans for new semiconductor plant in India

By Swati Gupta

The US and India reached an agreement to work together on setting up a semiconductor fabrication plant in the South Asian nation, giving a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to bolster manufacturing in the country.
 

The proposed plant will make infrared, gallium nitride and silicon-carbide semiconductors, according to a White House readout that followed a meeting between the US President Joe Biden and Modi in Delaware on Saturday. The setting up of the facility will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission as well as a “strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech Inc, and the U.S. Space Force,” according to the readout.

India’s strategic geopolitical position in Asia has provided a fresh spotlight on the country and the opportunities it can afford in the field of technology. In the last decade, Modi has repeatedly stated that he would position India as an alternative to China, and it has already begun to pull away some of its manufacturing from Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.

Earlier this month, India’s technology minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the South Asian country is attempting to develop the entire chip value chain. India aims to increase its electronics sector to $500 billion by the end of the decade.

The two countries also announced efforts to fund projects “catalysing India’s domestic clean energy supply chain build out” for about $1 billion through the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 

Modi is visiting the US for the annual Quad summit and in the three-day trip, he is holding bilateral meetings with its leaders, addressing the United Nations General Assembly and meeting with the Indian diaspora and American technology industry executives. 

On Sunday, Modi met with Sundar Pichai of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, Jensen Huang of Nvidia Corp. and David Ricks of Eli Lilly & Co.’s among others, and also addressed an Indian diaspora event in Long Island, New York. The next Quad meeting is scheduled to be held in India in 2025.