India’s Semiconductor Sector to Benefit from Contributions of Micron, Applied Materials, and Lam Research

The Indian government is anticipating significant results in the semiconductor industry following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, where major announcements were made.

It was recently confirmed that Micron Technology, Inc. will spend more than $800 million on a new $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in India. Funding for the Semiconductor Mission has over the next five years. The company employs 5,000 employees and creates 15,000 additional jobs in the same period.

Applied Materials has also announced the establishment of a Semiconductor Center for Commercialization and Innovation in India to diversify the countries’ semiconductor supply chains. This includes a gross investment of $400 million over four years.

It was also announced that Lam Research will train 60,000 Indian engineers as part of “Semiverse Solutions” to help the country achieve its semiconductor education and workforce development goals.

Possible results

The Indian government now believes that accepting Micron’s proposal will help create a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem and increase job opportunities both directly and indirectly in India.

The government said products manufactured by Micron will be used for local and global consumption, reducing imports and increasing exports.

“The land distribution and factory planning have already been done. Within six quarters, Micron is expected to produce ‘Make in India’ chips,” said union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.

For Applied Materials, it is expected to bring together applied engineers, leading global and domestic suppliers of equipment subsystems and components, as well as top suppliers and universities. The focus is on speeding up the innovation and commercialization of the technologies needed to manufacture next-generation subsystems and components in the country.

The government believes that the initiative will act as a catalyst in the training and development of future semiconductor talent and will open up new opportunities for India to play an important role in the global semiconductor industry.

According to the government: “Over the first five years, the center would support more than $2 billion in spending, which is expected to create at least 500 new advanced engineering jobs.”

The board of Lam Research, a global supplier of innovative wafer manufacturing equipment and services to the semiconductor industry, expects the first pilot project related to the education and skills of Indian youth to start in August this year.

The organization’s “Semiverse Solution” provides a virtual nanofabrication environment (SEMulator3D) that enables a transformative learning experience. It is believed that when integrated with the revised curriculum launched by AICTE recently, this program will train at least 6,000 engineers. semiconductor nanotechnology annually and in the next 10 years.

“It will add 60,000 skilled workers with a $100 billion revenue impact in the semiconductor chip manufacturing industry, which needs skilled labor,” the government noted.

Milestones and current status

Significant progress has been made since the announcement of the India Semiconductor Mission and approval of Rs 76,000 crore investment to catalyze and expand the Indian Semicon ecosystem.

Milestones so far include e.g.

• A vibrant Semicon Design innovation ecosystem that is growing rapidly with numerous new startups, including five from Semicon India’s FutureDESIGN program.
• India’s strategic RISC-V program to develop next-generation Digital India RISCV (DIRV) chips and systems.
• Semicon India FutureSkills started to create 85,000 VLSI engineers as global talent in the academic year 2023 semiconductor curriculum designed in collaboration with global industry majors.
• R&D centers of all global semiconductors in India.
• Micro’s packaging facility approved.
• The Semicon India Complex modernization and research plant and the India Semicon Research Center are being completed.

On the semiconductor industry, union IT minister Vaishnaw said on Friday that almost two years ago there was a race to achieve the smallest node, but now the idea has changed.

“The way the telecommunications and electric vehicle industries are growing and the use of semiconductors in all electronic products, the industry itself is now considering that almost half of the semiconductor sector will be mature nodes, which include 14-16-28 nanometers. The rest of the semiconductor industry will focus on smaller and high-end nodes,” the minister explained.

Vaishnaw also talked about the requirement for gallium nitride, which is well-suited for high-power transistors that can operate at high temperatures, and silicon carbide, or SiC, which is also used in semiconductor electronics that operate at high voltages.

He stated that based on the understanding of the industry and the current requirement, in September 2022, the government changed India’s semiconductor program.

“We have asked applicants who submitted their applications in January this year to modify their applications as per the requirements and resubmit them. They will now have an opportunity to focus on specific sectors and find new technology partners,” Vaishnaw said.