The $2.7-billion semiconductor assembly and testing plant to be built by U.S.-headquartered Micron in India will produce its first chip in six quarters, that is, in December 2024, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday.
The plant would create 5,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs, Mr. Vaishnaw said. Micron’s decision to build the plant was announced on the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States.
Terming semiconductors a “foundational technology” used in most electronic appliances like phones and computers besides cars, Mr. Vaishnaw said the investment signalled a milestone for the Indian semiconductor ecosystem.
The manufacturing input for the plant, which Mr. Vaishnaw said would be brought to the plant from Japan, would be made into chips and sold to manufacturers in India and abroad, though a break up of how much was expected to be sold domestically and abroad was not provided.
Mr. Vaishnaw added that the groundwork to domestically synthesise hundreds of chemicals and gases involved in semiconductor manufacturing had been laid. Ultra-pure water (UPW), which is required in semiconductor manufacturing in large quantities, would be manufactured for the Micron plant, Mr. Vaishnaw said in response to a query.
The government has revised incentives offered to manufacturers under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, first in September 2022, and subsequently in this month, and invited previously ineligible applicants to re-apply for benefits, namely tax benefits for finished goods.
On getting more of the value addition in device manufacturing into India, Mr. Vaishnaw said, “Even in mature markets, manufacturers only have a 40% value addition, as these are global industries.” Terming the U.S. an “important technological fountainhead,’ he said “democratic countries are all willing to work very closely,” pointing to Indian collaboration with Japan and South Korea in electronics manufacturing.
