Micron's ATMP plant a key first step in India's semiconductor ambitions

Micron's Sanand ATMP plant signals progress, but India's semiconductor ambitions hinge on scaling fabrication, talent, and supply-chain depth beyond mature nodes

The inauguration of Micron’s semiconductor facility for assembly, test, marking, and packaging (ATMP) in Sanand, Gujarat, marks a tangible advance in India’s ambitions in this respect. The plant is set to commence commercial production of integrated circuit packages, modules, and solid-state drives from advanced dynamic random access memory and NAND (a storage technology) wafers. The $2.75 billion investment brings direct employment, supplier opportunities, and export potential, while also signalling that global firms are willing to commit capital in India. The facility comes on the heels of India’s efforts to position itself within global technology-supply chains, including the Pax Silica agreement, which is aimed at securing critical minerals and strengthening semiconductor cooperation. 

However, at the same time, the Micron plant must be seen for what it is. It is an ATMP unit, assembling and packaging wafers fabricated elsewhere. While this is an important step in the value chain, India’s broader semiconductor mission has moved to address that gap. Beyond Micron, a series of semiconductor projects are at various stages of execution. Tata Electronics, in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, is building a fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, aiming to produce 28 nanometre and larger chips, targeting 50,000 wafer starts per month for the automotive, computing, and artificial-intelligence (AI) sectors. Two major facilities for assembly and test are coming up, one each in Assam and Gujarat, while other approved units span Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, and Punjab. 

Currently, India is focusing on manufacturing chips in the 28-110 nm range suited to industrial applications, automobiles, and large electronics. It does not yet have the expertise to produce advanced chips in the 3-5 nm category. The country lacks access to advanced lithography used to carve ultra-fine transistors on silicon. There are also constraints in advanced packaging and memory, with global capacity for Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) advanced packaging and High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) being tightly held by a few suppliers. Thus, the country remains far behind Taiwan, China, and South Korea in fabrication depth. A study conducted by the Indian Electronics & Semiconductor Association suggests that by 2032, nearly 60 per cent of India’s semiconductor demand in value terms could be for chips below 10 nm, driven by data centres, smartphones, and computing hardware. The likely outcome is continued reliance on imports for a majority of high-end demand, while domestic producers may have to export mature-node output to remain viable. That is not inherently negative, since global demand for legacy chips will persist. 

To address the limited availability of skilled labour for high-precision facilities, the All India Council for Technical Education has introduced courses in chip design and manufacturing, but scaling up industry-ready talent will take time. Infrastructure gaps must also be addressed. Reliable power, abundant ultra-pure water, and seamless logistics are non-negotiable. Backward linkages also deserve greater emphasis. Semiconductor manufacturing depends on specialty gases, chemicals, and maintenance ecosystems. Meanwhile, defence requirements, largely at mature nodes, could anchor domestic fabrication with assured demand. Developing capabilities in these areas would integrate India more deeply into global supply chains at a lower capital risk.