Cabinet clears 4 new chip units with Rs 4.6K crore investment

New Delhi:  The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved four new semiconductor projects under the India Semiconductor Mission taking the total cumulative investments under the initiative to Rs 1.60 lakh crore.

Out of the four new approved projects, two will be in Odisha, while one each will come up in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. The total investments in these four projects are pegged at around Rs 4,600 crore. It is expected to generate employment for 2034 skilled professionals.

Following these four new approvals, the total projects under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) now stand at 10, with combined investments of about Rs 1.60 lakh crore across 6 states.

Briefing media, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the new projects will focus on compound semiconductors and advanced packaging units, which are key to boosting India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem.

Given the growing demand of semiconductors in telecom, automotive, datacentres, consumer electronics and industrial electronics, these four new approved semiconductors projects would significantly contribute to making Atmanirbhar Bharat, he said. 

The minister informed that a silicon carbide semiconductor plant will be set up in Bhubaneswar with an investment of Rs 2,066 crore by SiCsem Pvt Ltd. Another plant in the state will be set up for 3D Glass manufacturing with an investment of Rs 1,943 crore.

SicSem Private Limited is collaborating with the UK-based Clas-SiC Wafer Fab Ltd will set up an integrated facility of Silicon Carbide-based Compound Semiconductors at Info Valley located in Odisha capital city Bhubaneswar. This will be the first commercial compound fab in the country.

This compound semiconductor fab will have an annual capacity of 60,000 wafers and packaging capacity of 9.6 crore units. The proposed products will have applications in missiles, defence equipment, electric vehicles (EVs), Railway, fast chargers, Data Centre racks, consumer appliances, and solar power inverters.

A 3D Glass semiconductor plant will also be set up at Info Valley in Bhubaneshwar. This project will be backed by investment from leading US technology firm Intel and Lockheed Martin. The facility will have a large variety of advanced technologies including glass interposers with passives and silicon bridges, and 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI) modules. The unit will have the capacity to produce 69,600 glass panel substrates, 5 crore assembled units, and 13,200 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI)modules per annum.

Advanced System in Package Technologies (ASIP) will set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh, under technology tie-up with South Korean firm APACT Co. Ltd with an investment of Rs 468 crore. The manufactured products will find applications in mobile phones, set-top boxes, automobile applications, and other electronic products.

A semiconductor project of electronic component maker firm Continental Device will be set up in Punjab with an investment of Rs 117 crore.

With the approval of these projects, the semiconductor ecosystem in the country would get a significant boost as these projects include the country's first commercial compound fab as well as highly advanced glass-based substrate semiconductor packaging unit, the Ministry of Electronics & IT said in a statement.