India to enter the elite group of world chipmakers, $3 billion set up

[Nomadsoul]

India is ready to enter the small and elite group of world chipmakers, with the first such facility in the country receiving strong support from the government of India.

The state-of-the-art facility, which sources believe would cost around $3 billion to set up, could reduce India’s 100 per cent reliance on imported chips from a select group of foundries in countries like Taiwan, China and Israel.

Sources in London and within the semiconductor sector in India said this feat has been achieved after more than five years of intense lobbying by the domestic industry. With nearly 130,000 embedded-software, chip-design and board-design professionals in India as well as a large captive market, India is ready to climb straight to the top of this group of chipmakers.

Sources also said an announcement on setting up such a facility in India is expected to be made soon by the government. A spokesperson for Bangalore-based India Semiconductor Association declined to answer queries on this latest development.

“India has significant design capability and also a huge market. The only thing missing was the manufacturing capability. Looks like that gap would also be soon bridged,” said a source in London.

The delay in such a project taking off so far has been due to the massive investment needed and the problem of making the unit profitable, thus keeping the private sector at bay. “Without heavy subsidies and financial support of the government, it is not possible to set up such a facility,” added the source.

Major units in Taiwan, China and Israel are all supported by their respective governments, with Taiwan commanding a 47 per cent global marketshare.

Chipmakers are divided into two broad categories: Captive fabricators comprise popular brands like Intel, AMD, IMB, TI, NXT and ST Micro. The other large group, known as foundries, are what one may call contract and custom manufacturers, not dedicated to one brand. Taiwan’s TSMC and UMC, China’s SMIC and Israel’s Tower come under this category. India’s proposed facility will fall under the second category.

Apart from the most well-known application in computers, chips have a very broad set of applications in the telecom, aerospace, defence, medical, automotive and industrial sectors.

Govt to back setting up a microchip facility in India

[Tao~]

Indian Government doing this ? Either this will never be built or it'll be worthless by the time it gets done.
There was a rumor Intel was considering setting up a Fab in India some 3 years back, but they decided to build more in Israel as the Semiconductor policies were 'unclear'
I dont know if they are targeting the el cheapo embedded market/chipmakers that don't need cutting edge stuff, but $3 Bn is a big amount.

[Aberration]

I have known about this for a while. Might even get to go install some machines there.

Currently at one of those on the list.

[tajoh111]

Depending on how much know how they have beforehand, isn't 3 billion dollars not that much money to start a brand new Fab business?

I think land might be cheaper, but companies like TSMC are spending like 9 billion on a plant and they probably have alot of the know hand and research, so unless it is basic stuff, how competitive do they want to be?

[haylui]

450mm wafer?

[JF-AMD]

We have development centers in india and the folks there are pretty sharp. But $3B is not enough to get the ball rolling unless you are going to use a foundry. That pretty much defeats the purpose unless you are convincing the foundry to open a location in your country.

[PatRaceTin]

which chip they made?

[ericware]

450mm wafer?

That's new

[Boissez]

It's getting tiresome to see all these state subsidized chipfoundries. Say no to socialized chipmaking!

[saaya]

3billion? hah!
there not gonna get far with this in the semicon industry...

[FreeRadical]

Whatever happened to my Rs. 1500 ($35) netbook?

[onewingedangel]

$3b seems to be the price you'd pay to buy up an established fabs 'old' equipment.

[Aberration]

$3b seems to be the price you'd pay to buy up an established fabs 'old' equipment.

[Aberration]

3billion? hah!
there not gonna get far with this in the semicon industry...

Well it is happening. And it will get them what they need when you know where to look.

[god_43]

well amds fab in ny cost like 5bln or something....India is cheaper (labor and all) so maybe this is enough?

[Aberration]

450mm wafer?

Not a chance considering the OEM's are not making 450mm machines, and are pushing really hard not to.

[antiacid]

well if they're getting into a new market, it's quite possible they'll start with used material and older processes to minimize money loss. Once the processes are perfected, they'll shell for upgrades. This makes sense for India but we'll have to see if they can pull it off. It's slightly more complex than their other big state projects (highways, infrastructure dev, etc) and they've yet to impress anybody with those easier projects... Developing countries don't quite work like America when you think of those big projects.

[zalbard]

450mm wafer?

Unlikely.

It's getting tiresome to see all these state subsidized chipfoundries. Say no to socialized chipmaking!

You can't really build such a huge start-up fab without some government support... Even if you're a huge company like Intel, you still have to discuss a lot of things before you're allowed to build it.

3billion? hah!
there not gonna get far with this in the semicon industry...

"The state-of-the-art facility, which sources believe would cost around $3 billion to set up". Could be more. We don't know for sure. Besides, it doesn't have to be huge and make Itanium-class chips. Could be a smaller fab for smaller chips for now. Doesn't have to start big.

well amds fab in ny cost like 5bln or something....India is cheaper (labor and all) so maybe this is enough?

May very well be.

Surely Indian government isn't run by idiots who don't know what they are throwing $3 billion at... Come on, guys.

[ajaidev]

Intel did not make a chip station in India not because of the unknown rules but because of the rigid nature of the then government. Trust me i know what i am talking about, a very senior European Intel PR fellow also had talks for 8-9 months straight with the Indian goverment but all of that was just talk not a thing came out of it.

Intel higher administration was pissed the reason was because they were cutting it very close and the reason why Intel wanted to setup a chip station in India was because of requests made by a few upper Indians who were a part of the Intel administration.

[Aberration]

One of the biggest problem with India is infrastructure, such as stable power. You can't have your machines going down for a power glitch. For the ones I work on, you are looking at a minimum of 24hours and sometimes up to a week of recovery. It will stop the whole line dead in its tracks.

I will let you guys know how it compares when I go there.

[Toolius]

I will let you guys know how it compares when I go there.

You sir are invited over for dinner/lunch anytime
Cheers and kind regards !

[Johnny87au]

the company is gonna be based in delhi

[Toolius]

the company is gonna be based in delhi

I have a house there too mate

[ajaidev]

One of the biggest problem with India is infrastructure, such as stable power. You can't have your machines going down for a power glitch. For the ones I work on, you are looking at a minimum of 24hours and sometimes up to a week of recovery. It will stop the whole line dead in its tracks.

I will let you guys know how it compares when I go there.

There are two types of electricity connections one is private the other is commercial industry. Now the latter one does now just die out at anytime it is shared with most Indian military areas and as such are more robust and dont have a down period that the normal supply has.

The R&D center in which i was staying had 2 private connections and a commercial one. The private ones powered the campus and served as backup while the commercial one powered the core offices and labs.