Context: The Union Cabinet has approved four new projects under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Two of the projects will be in Bhubaneswar in Odisha, and one each will be in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: India’s efforts towards semiconductor self-reliance.
Four new Semiconductor Plants
- The cumulative value of the new projects is ₹4,594 crore. This brings the total number of projects under the India Semiconductor Mission to 10.
Key details about the four new projects:
1. Silicon Carbide integrated facility in Bhubaneswar, Odisha:
- SicSem Pvt Ltd will establish an integrated facility of Silicon Carbide (SiC) based Compound Semiconductors. This will be the 1st commercial compound fab in the country.
- The project proposes to manufacture Silicon Carbide devices. This compound semiconductor fab will have an annual capacity of 60,000 wafers and packaging capacity of 96 million 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.
Silicon Carbide:
- Silicon carbide (also known as SiC) is a semiconductor base material that consists of pure silicon and pure carbon.
- SiC can be doped with nitrogen or phosphorus to form an n-type semiconductor or can be doped with beryllium, boron, aluminum, or gallium to form a p-type semiconductor.
- SiC devices offer advantages such as higher power density, reduced cooling requirements and lower overall system cost.
2. Vertically integrated advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate unit in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha:
- 3D Glass Solutions Inc. will bring world’s most advanced packaging technology to India.
- Planned capacity of this unit will be approximately 69,600 glass panel substrates, 50 million assembled units, and 13,200 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI) modules per annum.
- The products will have significant applications in defence, high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, RF and automotive, photonics and co-packaged optics etc.
3. Semiconductor manufacturing unit in Andhra Pradesh:
- Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies will set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit with an annual capacity of 96 Million units.
- The products will find applications in mobile phones, set-top boxes, automobile applications, and other electronic products.
4. Semiconductor manufacturing facility at Mohali, Punjab:
- Continental Device India Pvt Limited will expand its discrete semiconductor manufacturing facility.
- The proposed facility will manufacture high-power discrete semiconductor devices such as MOSFETs, IGBTs, Schottky Bypass Diodes, and transistors, both in Silicon and Silicon Carbide.
About India Semiconductor Mission
- ISM is a strategic initiative to establish a robust semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country. It seeks to position India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and chip design.
- Launched: 2021
- Budget outlay: ₹76,000 crores
- Implemented by: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)
- Incentives: Financial incentives up to 50% of the project cost are provided to companies involved in Semiconductor Fabs, Display Fabs, Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP/OSAT) units, Semiconductor Design.
Previous Projects approved under India Semiconductor Mission:
- Earlier, six major projects have been approved under the India Semiconductor Mission. Already five semiconductor units are in advanced stages of construction.
- Advanced 7 nm (nanometre), 5 nm and 3 nm chips are being designed in India.
- The first chip from one of the previous six units is expected to be rolled out by the end of 2025.
| Company / Joint Venture | Location |
| Micron | Sanand, Gujarat |
| Tata Electronics + PSMC (Taiwan) | Dholera, Gujarat |
| Tata Semiconductor Assembly & Test (TSAT) | Morigaon, Assam |
| CG Power + Renesas (Japan) + Stars Microelectronics (Thailand) | Sanand, Gujarat |
| Suchi Semicon | Surat, Gujarat |
| HCL + Foxconn (Taiwan) | Jewar, Uttar Pradesh |
Also Read: India’s push for Semiconductor Chip Production amid Rising Imports