India's chipmaking to be at par with major producers by 2032: Vaishnaw

By Sankalp Phartiyal

 

India’s technology minister said the nation’s chipmaking capabilities are set to be at par with other major producers by 2032, an aggressive timeline that underscores the government’s urge to bolster domestic manufacturing.

 

“In case of semiconductors, by 2031-2032 — in that timeframe we will be equivalent to what many of these countries are at today,” Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told Bloomberg’s New Economy Forum in Singapore Thursday. “Then it’ll be a race which will be very fair and a level playing field.” 

India’s semiconductor push is in early stages, with the country boosting spending to attract designers and manufacturers. The world’s most populous nation has used a $10 billion fund to fuel its chip programme, helping to bring about several assembly, packaging and testing ventures. Micron Technology Inc. has set up a plant in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat and conglomerate Tata Group is one of 10 producers that’ll fabricate silicon domestically.

 

Still, India lags far behind chip industry leaders Taiwan and South Korea and nations such as the US, China and Japan, which are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build domestic chipmaking capacities and woo the world’s biggest companies. The moves are aimed at securing supplies of components that are key for future technologies from artificial intelligence to self-driving cars.

 

Three of India’s chip facilities will start commercial production early next year, Vaishnaw said.

 

India’s sweeping state-backed semiconductor drive — coupled with its growing design ecosystem and deep bench of engineering talent — is helping the country reach a stage where private capital begins to flow in on its own, he said. India is hoping to attract chip giants in much the same way state-backed subsidies have encouraged Apple Inc. and its partners to manufacture iPhones in the country.