According to the deputy IT minister, previous governments' incompetence hindered India's semiconductor industry's progress.

                                                        image source:techcrunch

According to the deputy IT minister, previous governments' incompetence hindered India's semiconductor industry's progress.

A top Indian minister indicted previous administrations, attributing "a big dose of incompetence" and their lack of strategic and political vision as major factors in the underdeveloped semiconductor industry of the nation.

"India has consistently fallen behind in the production of semiconductors and electronics. The deputy minister for IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar (seen above), told a group of reporters on Thursday that there was a lack of strategic and political vision as well as a significant amount of incompetence.

"In 1957, Fairchild Semiconductors—the forerunner of Intel—came to India in search of a packaging facility, but we drove them away. In Malaysia, that packaging facility eventually grew to become the biggest packaging hub in Asia. A fab for silicon and germanium was established.transistors that were dead. Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), India's main VLSI facility, perished when a mystery fire in 1989 stopped manufacturing until 1997. India was only two years behind the United States in 1987 in terms of chip manufacturing technology. As a country, we are currently 12 generations behind in semiconductor development, according to Chandrasekhar, a prominent supporter of India's entry into the chip market.

The administration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has its sights set on the global semiconductor market as part of a planned drive into high-value manufacturing. India has introduced significant production-related incentives during the past two years to entice investment in crucial industries including solar energy, autos, and electronics.

"Demand for digital, electronic, and related goods and services is only growing. Electronics is the foundation ofsemiconductors, which are at the heart of electronics, and our lives today. We are one of the fastest-growing makers of electronics in the world thanks to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's efforts to rebuild our electronics ecosystem. We were virtually nonexistent in the semiconductor ecosystem in 2014, but we are now significantly contributing to the global electronics value chain, according to Chandrasekhar, who also holds the position of Union Minister for State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

These initiatives are making headway: The construction of a semiconductor plant in India will cost up to $825 million, according to a recent announcement from the American memory chip company Micron. Additionally, Apple has increased manufacture of its iPhone 14 series in the nation. However, there are some issues as well. AEarly this month, a multibillion-dollar partnership between Foxconn and the Indian giant Vedanta came to an end. The joint venture was terminated, and Indian officials cited "internal issues" between the companies, adding that the change will not have an influence on India's semiconductor objectives. Since then, Foxconn has declared that it is still committed to India and that it will apply for the incentives.

In a recent note, analysts at Jefferies said that while India may need to strengthen supply chains and tech partnerships, they believe the country has several key ingredients for success, including rising demand, low manufacturing costs, significant fiscal support, and strategic goodwill with the West.

content source:https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/27/previous-governments-incompetence-crippled-indias-semiconductor-growth-deputy-it-minister-says/