Dholera (Gujarat), Mar 13 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday laid foundation stones of three semiconductor fabrication plant, being built at a cost of Rs 1.25 lakh crore, as India seeks to join ranks of big chip-producing countries.

The plants, together with Micron's under-construction unit in Sanand, Gujarat, will help cut India's dependence on countries like Vietnam.

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Speaking on the occasion, Modi said only a handful of nations are manufacturing semiconductors today, and emphasised the need for a reliable supply chain after the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

India, he said, is keen to play a crucial role in this and highlighted the country's tech space, nuclear, and digital power.

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Elaborating on the future plans where India is primed to take on commercial production for the semiconductor sector, he said, "The day is not far when India will become a global power in the manufacture of products for the semiconductor sector."

The projects for which foundation was laid included Tata Group's Rs 91,000 crore plant at Dholera to make 50,000 wafers per month and another Rs 27,000 crore unit in Morigaon, Assam, as well as a Rs 7,600 crore facility of Murugappa Group's CG Power at Sanand, Gujarat.

According to Communications and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, semiconductors will start rolling out from Tata Electronics' plant here in December 2026. Micron will start producing chips by December 2024.

The units which will make chips for sectors, including defence, automobiles and telecommunications.

Modi targeted the Congress, accusing the previous governments led by it of failing to convert India's semiconductor dreams into reality.

Referring to his government's commitment to make the country a semiconductor manufacturing hub, he said when India commits, it delivers, and added that chip manufacturing opens the door of development with infinite possibilities.

"Two years ago, we declared a Semiconductor Mission and announced that we would take initiatives. Within a few months, we signed MoUs and today we are laying the foundation stones for three projects. India commits, India delivers and democracy delivers," he said.

India is already decades behind in semiconductor manufacturing, but will not lose a single moment any longer, he said.

"For the first time, India dreamt of semiconductor manufacturing in the 1960s. But even after this, the then governments did not take advantage of those opportunities. The biggest reasons behind this were lack of willpower, lack of effort to convert our pledge into achievement, and lack of capacity to take far-sighted decisions for the country," he added.

"People who were in those governments said there was no need to hurry as this is a future need. Hiding behind India's poverty, they kept ignoring all such investments of modern needs. They would commit corruption worth thousands of crores of rupees, but would not invest in semiconductor manufacturing," he said.

No country can develop with such thinking, he said.

"Therefore, our government is working with forward-looking thinking and a futuristic approach. Today, we are moving ahead with the ambitions of competing with developed countries in the semiconductor sector," he said.

"Only a few countries in the world are manufacturing semiconductors, and Covid-19 has given us a lesson to have a reliable and resilient supply chain. India is eager to play a very big role in this direction," Modi said.

He said the country has always been a space, nuclear and digital power.

"In the coming time, we will begin commercial production of semiconductor products. Days are not far when India becomes a global power in this field as well," he said.

"The 21st century is a technology-driven century, and we cannot imagine it at all without an electronic chip. Made in India and Design in India chip will create a big capability to take India towards self-reliance," he said.

Tata Electronics Pvt Ltd will set up a semiconductor fab in partnership with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp at Dholera while Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test Pvt Ltd (TSAT) will set up a chip unit in Morigaon, Assam.

CG Power, in partnership with Renesas Electronics Corp and Stars Microelectronics of Thailand, will set up a unit in Sanand.

Tata Electronics plant will cater to multiple sectors -- power management chips for electric vehicles, telecom, defence, automotive, consumer electronics, display, and power electronics.

The Assam facility, India's first semiconductor unit in the Northeast, will develop indigenous advanced semiconductor packaging technologies, including flip chip and ISIP (integrated system in package) technologies, with a capacity of 48 million chips per day.

The target segments for these would be automotive, EVs, consumer electronics, telecom, and mobile phones, among others.

Renesas is a leading semiconductor company focussed on specialised chips. It operates 12 semiconductor facilities and is an important player in microcontrollers, analogue, power, and system-on-chip products.

Its joint venture plant with CG Power will have a capacity for 15 million chips per day, and will manufacture chips for consumer, industrial, automotive and power applications.

Vaishnaw said efforts were being made to set up a semiconductor industry in India since 1962 but it has become successful now.

He said foundation of three large semiconductor projects is a record in the world.

"The ground-breaking ceremony has been done within 15 days of the project approval by the Centre. India will be among top five semiconductor ecosystems by 2029," Vaishnaw said.

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said the Tata Electronics' semiconductor projects will initially create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs.

He said the production at Assam plant is expected to start before the fabrication unit's production in Dholera.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)