India’s Semiconductor Push: Ashwini Vaishnaw Says First Homegrown Chip to Arrive This Year

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday revealed that the first made-in-India chip from a commercial fab will come out in September or October this year, the Economic Times reported. The announcement was made during a press conference in Bengaluru, where Vaishnaw discussed the government’s plans to advance India’s semiconductor industry.

According to Vaishnaw, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), located in Bengaluru, has been awarded Rs 334 crore by the government for new research and development (R&D) in gallium nitride, a technology in semiconductors, which is used in telecom and power.

The IT minister stated that the "latest" semiconductor design tools are being distributed to students at 234 universities. He also mentioned that the union government intends to launch a production-linked incentive (PLI) system for "components" shortly, but did not elaborate.

Vaishnaw also stated that the country has seen investments of Rs 13,162 crore in the electronics manufacturing sector in the recent past, with many more to come.

Also Read: India Semiconductor Market To Cross $100 Billion By 2030: IESA Report

Research & Development

Notably, Tata Electronics is constructing a semiconductor facility in Dholera, Gujarat, in partnership with Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC). Nearly 60% of the building has already been finished at Micron's semiconductor assembly and testing facility in Sanand, the state.

This initiative is part of the larger Semicon India program, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved in December 2021 for a total of Rs 76,000 crore. The program intends to build a comprehensive semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in India.

The government has also established India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) as an independent business subsidiary of Digital India Corporation. This division has administrative and financial authority to develop and implement India's long-term strategies for semiconductor and display production facilities, as well as the semiconductor design ecosystem.

Along with this, Vaishnaw also announced the launch of the AI Mission portal. The portal is expected to go live within the next 7-8 days, providing a robust platform for stakeholders to request compute capacity.

Also Read: Nearly 2000 GCCs in India Doing Advanced Design In Areas Like Semiconductor Chips: Vaishnaw in Davos

IndiaAI Mission

The India AI Mission aims to democratise access to high-perform offering around 14,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) to support AI development. These GPUs will be sourced from ten shortlisted companies, including Yotta Data Services, E2E NeTata Communications, and AWS's managed service providers.

The portal will enable central ministries, state governments, and other stakeholders to request compute capacity at subsidised rates, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for AI research and development.