‘Govt will ensure supply chains are in place for the chip units being set up’
The government will resolve all issues when it comes to setting up semiconductor fabrication (fab) units and take all steps to ensure that the supply chains are also in place, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Wednesday.
“I think it is clear that you cannot set up a fab without a supply chain, and the government will do everything necessary to ensure that the supply chain also has a footprint in India,” Chandrasekhar told media after the foundation stonelaying ceremony of a semiconductor facility here.
Asked if companies are being given any incentives, the Minister said that at present the semiconductor policy does not cover incentives but hinted that the government may not be averse to providing them.
“This is not currently governed by the Semicon Policy. But it is something that the government will see and explore in the second round of semiconductor expenses that are sought by the Ministry. It may require an additional specs type of a policy to support... especially if there is a justification of a disability in that supply chain to move to
India,” Chandrashekhar said.
“So, if we run out of resources in the first stage of this scheme, certainly we will go back to the Prime Minister and the government and ask for more money, and I suspect that is what is going to happen,” he said.
NEW SEMICON UNITS
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stones for three semiconductor units — the fabrication facility at the Dholera Special Investment Region (DSIR), Gujarat; the Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility at Morigaon, Assam; and the Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test facility at Sanand, Gujarat, worth ₹1.25lakh crore.
With these three units, India now has four projects (the fourth being the Micron Technology unit in Gujarat) under the India Semiconductor Mission, in which the government is extending fiscal support of up to 50 per cent of the project cost on a pari-passu basis to the approved applicants.
“It is a big milestone for the country today. After all the scepticism about when a fab will be set up and whether the big companies will come, we still have a few more projects in the pipeline. We will have 1.8 lakh wafers per month if SCL modernisation and tower proposals are approved,” Chandrasekhar added.