The state government said that the International Semiconductor Consortium (ISMC) would invest $3 billion to set up a semiconductor fabrication unit in Karnataka. ISMC is a joint venture between Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and Abu Dhabi-based Next Orbit Ventures. Intel Corp, the U.S. chip giant, has announced plans to acquire Tower.
ISMC has proposed a 65-nanometer analog semiconductor fabrication unit in Karnataka that will generate over 10,000 indirect and 1,500 direct jobs in Karnataka over the next seven years. The ISMC has requested 150 acres of land in Mysuru’s Kochanahalli Industrial area to build the plant. This will be the first and largest semiconductor fab unit to be set up under the Central Government’s Semiconductor Mission.
India has been trying to strengthen its position in the sector and get major semiconductor firms to set up in the country. The Indian government has also established a production-linked incentive scheme (PLI) for Rs. 76,000 crores for large chip manufacturers.
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Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s Union Finance Minister, recently visited the United States and urged the semiconductor companies such as Western Digital Micron tech and AMD to consider investing in India while also enjoying the PLI incentive.
Vedanta, an Indian company, has also applied for the PLI scheme besides ISMC. The government reported that five more semiconductor companies have applied to set up their industries in February alone, bringing a total investment of Rs. 1.53 trillion.
ISMC director Ajay Jalan and EV Ramana Reddy, the additional chief secretary for IT and biotechnology, signed the MoU in the presence of Basavaraj Bommai, Karnataka’s chief minister. Bommai said that the MoU is a significant step considering the rising competition among Indian states to attract semiconductor fabrication units.
