Why it makes strategic sense to incentivise domestic chip research

It will offer India the opportunity to become R&D centre to the world without losing valuable IP rights rather than frittering away capital on chip-making, for which it has no known capabilities yet

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved the proposal of Kaynes Semicon Pvt Ltd to set up a semiconductor unit in Sanand, Gujarat. The government has been providing substantial capital subsidies for joint ventures in semiconductor manufacturing. After some false starts, New Delhi has approved five ventures entailing investment worth about Rs 1.5 trillion. One of these is a manufacturing unit by the Tata group with Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, Taiwan’s third-largest semiconductor foundry. And four are Assembly Testing Marking and Packaging (ATMP) and Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT)  — one by Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test