India to welcome 3 new semiconductor chip fabrication units in coming months, attracting investments from $8 billion to $12 billion, as per announcement made by Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Minister for Electronics and Information Technology.
This follows semiconductor giant AMD’s opening of its largest global design centre, the AMD Technostar R&D campus, in the southern Indian state of Bengaluru on 28th November 2023, as part of a significant expansion of its research and engineering operations in the country.
Ashwini Vaishnaw said :
“In another few months, I can share that we will get at least three more units, fabricating advanced technologies of chips in the country,”.
Union minister was quote as saying during the inauguration of the Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) design centre in Bengaluru.
The ground breaking ceremony of the first chip packing facility in the country, by Micron, was held in Gujarat in September 2023.
Micron’s semiconductor plant, unveiled in June 2023, start construction in September 2023.
The rapid progress in development has significantly confidence in India’s semiconductor mission, said Ashwini Vaishnaw.
As Gujarat government sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the US-based computer storage chip maker Micron in June, in a bid to set up a $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility at Sanand, in Ahmedabad district of Gujarat.
This will be the first semiconductor manufacturing facility in India, said Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Ashwini Vaishnaw had further said that the first chips will be manufacture within 18 months.
It is pertinent to note that the global semiconductor industry is experiencing a significant shift, led by countries such as TSMC, South Korea and Intel and the COVID-19 pandemic highlight weaknesses in this global supply chain, as shutdowns and disruptions had widespread impacts across smartphone and other industries.
This underscores the crucial need to diversify sources for critical components.
Foxconn to Invest Over $1.5 Billion in India
Apple supplier Foxconn will invest over $1.5 billion (approx. Rs. 12,500 crore) in India as the company looks to expand production of Apple’s iPhone in the country, as per a report.
This move comes a year after the Taiwanese firm’s factories in China were negatively impact by the country’s strict COVID-19 restrictions in 2022.
Foxconn also reportedly flew Chinese engineers to India in order to train workers at its factory to improve efficiency earlier 2023.
As per reports that Foxconn will invest more than $1.5 billion (approx. Rs. 12,500 crore) to be budget for a “construction project to fulfil operational needs” of the company in the country, according to security filings.
The multi-crore investment will be made via its subsidiary Hon Hai Technology India Mega Development, as per report.
Foxconn’s representative in India said in September that the company was aiming to double its investment and workforce in India by 2024 as the firm looks to diversify its production outside China.
The iPhone assembler was severely impact in 2022 when Chinese lockdowns related to the coronavirus pandemic affect production and output for weeks.
Foxconn currently employs around 40,000 people at its iPhone factory in Tamil Nadu and recently flew out Chinese engineers to its iPhone manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu to improve production, as per a Rest of World report.
The Foxconn plan to manufacture iPhone 15 units in India in time so that they could ship alongside units made in other regions, on the launch day.
As Foxconn has achieve high levels of efficiency in China, the company’s Tamil Nadu plant was affect by a higher ratio of defective units and more expensive costs for materials lowering profits from the factory compare its counterparts in China, as per report that cites two persons close to the company.
As Foxconn will compete with the Tata Group which has recently complete its takeover of Wistron’s Indian unit.
While the Tata Group was already producing components use in some iPhone models, the Wistron India acquisition will allow the company to assemble iPhone models in India, alongside Pegatron, Luxshare, and Foxconn.
