India’s semiconductor mission might need a compass

• United States and India recently concluded a memorandum of understanding (MoU 2023) to ensure that subsidies by each country do not come in the way of India’s semiconductor dreams, as espoused by the much publicised semiconductor policy launched in 2021.

India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)

• ISM is a mission under the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY).
• It is part of the comprehensive program for the development of sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country.
• The programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem.

Recent developments

• The U.S. Department of State has also engaged with India to beef up sector-specific export control laws in the semiconductor space — which India has apparently agreed to.
• The Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) was set up in Mohali in 1983 by the then central government, with the vision of creating an electronics ecosystem.
• However, shocks, of the opening up of markets for consumer goods in 1991 and a fire accident at SCL, dashed these hopes.
• SCL Mohali can be viewed as a technology stack similar to others such as Aadhaar, Aarogya Setu and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) acting as a force multiplier effect, encouraging many integrated circuit design startups in India to consider designing for India.

Way forward

• The institutional framework for such a shift in focus already exists with the transfer of SCL back to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITy).
• However, a year into such an announcement, no joint venture partner has been found, keeping SCL employees in limbo.
• During this period, the focus at MeITY seems aimed at attracting Intel into India to set up a fab.
• This can be inferred from the wording of the request for proposals and signalling from MeITY Ministers.
• However, Intel primarily operates at <22nm node and 300mm, requiring over $10 billion in upgrade cost to the SCL.
• An alternate approach could be to leverage human and capital assets at the SCL to build on what exists in a targeted manner, to jumpstart the semiconductor mission by taking advantage of recent technological breakthroughs in a class of semiconductors that do not need advanced lithography equipment.

Conclusion

• The stakes are high as a lack of clarity and inaction may lead to India completely missing out on the semiconductor fabrication bus, yet again, unless there is course correction on incentive targets.
• Finally, to execute this vision in the next five years, the SCL needs a full-time director with prior “More than Moore” foundry experience than have a career scientist from the Department of Space, as is the case now.
• This is because there is a multifaceted market that needs to be served.