ISMC's $3 billion chip fab in Mysuru is waiting for the approval for the fiscal support from GOI. Once approved mostly the construction work will start in February. The International Semiconductor Consortium or ISMC has proposed and inked a $3 billion agreement with the Karnataka government in May this year to set up a chip-manufacturing plant on 150 acres of land in Mysuru's Kochanahalli Industrial Area.
As per the proposal the fab can handle 40,000 Wafer Starts Per Month (WSPM) of 300mm (i.e. 12 inches) size wafers at 65nm process nodes when running at full capacity.
Next Orbit Director Ajay Jalan said"We will now have four investors: Tower Semiconductor of Israel, our technology partner that will take 10-15 per cent stake (it has been bought over by Intel recently); the two Indian companies that will have more than 26 per cent but less than 51 per cent stake; and the balance will be with us. There has been no change in products, which we will manufacture, or in the total capacity of production."
Karnataka minister for information technology, electronics, and skills development, Dr. C.N. Ashwath Narayan, said in an interview that,“We will probably become the first state in India to have a semiconductor fab. ISMC has the technology and the capability. Subject to the central government’s approval, we hope to see work starting on this plant from February," .He added that ISMC would make 40-65 nanometre (nm) analog chips to “cater to the defense and automotive sectors, and then to other areas".The minister said he expects the semiconductor foundry to take four years to build, “but it can happen earlier too".
Recently The US Govt. has imposed restrictions on the sales of semiconductors and chip making equipment to China. This is also encouraging companies to consider India as an alternative destination. India already has expertise in designing chips although the absence of semiconductor fabs means it has dependency on others to fulfill all its chip requirements. State policymakers expects the design capabilities of Indian companies will also attract companies to set up fab in India.“The strength of Karnataka is design, where we are No.2 in the world. From chip designing, we now want to become a chipmaker," Minister Dr. Narayan added.
One news is that ISMC Analog is all set to seal debt deal with five-bank consortium led by SBI. Two Indian companies who are set to pick up a combined stake of anywhere between 26 and 51% in the ISMC, Mostly these two Indian Firms are HCL and Reliance.
Courtesy : Image by Samuel Faber from Pixabay and Sergei Starostin from pexels
