Some of the world’s biggest chipmakers are evaluating locations in India for new plants in a bid to broaden manufacturing beyond their home bases, IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said.
One of the biggest chipmakers companies including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. are investing tens of billions of dollars each year in expanding their output capacity, and India is in talks with some of the giants to attract them into the country. Their expansion drive comes as nations around the globe are increasingly putting resources into securing domestic chip production.
“India is right there squarely on their global plans whether it is Intel, GlobalFoundries,” Vaishnaw told Bloomberg Television. “TSMC is still taking more time, but other big ones are very serious in their plans.”
India’s semiconductor manufacturing plans come at a time when leading economies are increasingly putting resources into securing their domestic chip production. China has set out a vision for semiconductor sovereignty, the Biden administration has a $52 billion plan to reclaim U.S. leadership in chip development and Japan is setting aside billions to attract the likes of TSMC. Trade tensions between Beijing and Washington along with Covid-related lockdowns have disrupted global supply chains and pushed companies to diversify outside of traditional techs manufacturing hubs like China and Taiwan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government late last year unveiled a $10 billion incentive plan, offering to cover as much as half of a project’s cost, to lure display and semiconductor fabricators to set up base in India. The country is also the world’s No. 2 smartphone maker.
Modi, who is intensifying his push to establish India as a chipmaking hub, is set to host a three-day gathering in the southern tech hub of Bangalore from Friday to make pitches to global semiconductor companies.
India’s democracy and talent pool make it stand out among other countries vying for chip sovereignty, Vaishnav said.
