Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for IT & Electronics, stated that companies will invest due to the strong demand for semiconductors and India’s emergence as a trusted partner in the electronics ecosystem.
“I can confidently say that fabs will be approved before October or November this year. These will be actual wafer fabs for fab manufacturing,” Chandrasekhar told TOI.
The minister also mentioned that India will be a lucrative market for semiconductor companies due to the robust demand for electronics in consumer sectors. “Electronics in India is now reaching a critical mass, and our target is to achieve $300 billion by 2026. We are on track to achieve this… This will result in a significant need for semiconductors, estimated to reach $110 billion by 2029.”
Chandrasekhar added that Micron’s $2.7-billion packaging and testing unit in Gujarat will encourage more companies to invest in India. “Having Micron, one of the world’s largest semiconductor memory companies, as the first investor in India is a major achievement… We are confident that many more companies will follow Micron’s lead because they understand the first-mover advantage when it comes to India.”
He further stated that India’s progress in the field of semiconductors may outpace China’s with lower investments.
“To put the semiconductor intensity in electronics into perspective, China exports $900 billion worth of electronics but needs to import nearly $600 billion worth of semiconductors. They have spent $200 billion in the last 20 years on semiconductors, with little success. On the other hand, we are spending just $10 billion (India’s semiconductor incentive package for investors), and we will achieve what even larger countries, who have spent ten times more money, have not been able to achieve in over 20 years. We have a significant opportunity, at least in semiconductors, to surpass China.”