New Delhi: “Why not invest in India’s semiconductor industry,” Prime Minister Modi said Friday at the inauguration of SemiconIndia 2023 as the country looks to lure funding into its budding chip industry.
“In the first edition of SemiconIndia in 2022, the question was ‘why invest in India’s semiconductor sector?’ But after a year, that question has changed to ‘why not invest?” the Prime Minister said in Gandhinagar Friday, addressing delegates from companies which included industry pioneers Foxconn and Micron.
The flagship event has been organised under the government’s umbrella platform – the India Semiconductor Mission – which aims to make India a global hub for semiconductor design, manufacturing and technology development.
Modi said the event would keep updating relations with the Industry, experts and policymakers – “just like software”. “I also think this is essential for the synchronisation of relations,” he said.
The Prime Minister added that India’s growing neo-middle class was the “powerhouse of the country’s aspirations”. He said: “We need to build a chip-making ecosystem in the country, and I am confident that whosoever works on this quickly will get the ‘first mover advantage’.”
“I believe the fourth industrial revolution we are witnessing in the world now is driven by Indian aspirations,” the Prime Minister said, adding, “When we talk about ‘Make in India’, we mean ‘Make for India, Make for the World’. India understands its global responsibility and that’s why we are working with our allies on a roadmap to develop a vibrant semiconductor ecosystem in the country.”
Modi predicted that the semiconductor industry would witness exponential growth in India, and that courses on it would be taught in 300 colleges.
Speaking before the Prime Minister, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said: “Semiconductor industry is the foundation industry, the mother industry… Every sector needs semiconductors and that is why it is important to develop the semiconductor industry for an Atmanirbhar Bharat.”
Delegates from 23 countries are attending the three-day event, with prominent speakers being Foxconn Chairman Young Liu, Micron Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra, and Advanced Micro Devices Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster.
The event comes just weeks after Foxconn withdrew from a $19.5 billion chips joint venture with Vedanta, saying “the project was not moving fast enough”. Foxconn has since decided to go solo.
US-based Micron in June announced it will invest $825 million to build its first factory in Gujarat for testing and packaging chips, but not manufacturing.
The government recently issued another invitation for companies to apply for chip incentives as it plans to establish itself as a semiconductor-manufacturing hub, rivalling the likes of Taiwan.
The high demand for chips means the local market will be worth $80 billion by 2028, almost four times its $23 billion size now, Reuters reported.
Also read: US chipmaker AMD to invest $400 million in India, to build largest design center in Bengaluru