Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has looked to woo American semiconductor firms to invest in his country.
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Chief executives of some of the U.S.’s top semiconductor firms poured praise on India’s technology sector at an event on Friday attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the world’s fifth-largest economy looks to position itself as a global chip powerhouse.
The CEOs of Micron and Cadence and senior executives at Applied Materials and AMD were on stage at SemiconIndia alongside Modi, speaking about their investments in India’s chip market. Ajit Manocha, the CEO of U.S.-based industry body SEMI, was also in attendance.
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“For the first time in India’s history, geopolitics, domestic policies and private sector capacity are aligned in India’s favor to become a player in semiconductor production,” Manocha said during a keynote speech.
“We will look back in the year 2023 … as a milestone year in which things began to take shape.”
The event with some of the world’s biggest chip firms highlights India’s ambitions to become a major hub for semiconductors alongside the likes of the U.S., Taiwan and South Korea.
India’s chip strategy
India’s chip strategy consists of two major parts. The first is luring in foreign firms to set up operations and invest in the country while the second is on forming alliances with other key semiconductor nations like the U.S.
New Delhi has introduced supportive policies for the semiconductor sector. In December, the government greenlit a $10 billion incentive plan for the semiconductor industry. This is open to foreign firms too.
And last month, Modi visited the U.S. where he said India would work with America on semiconductors and other areas.
At SemiconIndia, the American chip firms in attendance spoke about their investments in India and announced new ones, highlighting India’s focus on attracting foreign companies.
AMD said it plans to invest around $400 million in India over the next five years. This includes a new campus in Bangalore that will be the company’s largest design center.
“India teams will be pivotal in advancing AI machine learning and both hardware and software capabilities,” Mark Papermaster, CTO of AMD, said during a keynote speech on Friday.
Last month, Micron announced plans to set up a semiconductor assembly and testing facility in the state of Gujarat in India. Micron’s investment will total up to $825 million.
“We are hopeful that this investment will help catalyze other investments in the sector, strengthen indigenous manufacturing capability, encourage innovation and support broader job creation,” Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron, said on Friday.
India’s IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said Friday that construction on this plant would start “soon.”
Foxconn’s India setback
One other notable attendee was Young Liu, chairman of Foxconn, which is the Taiwanese company that assembles Apple’s iPhones. Over the past couple years, Foxconn has made a push into semiconductors.FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE NEWS