On 28th July 2023, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi inaugurated the 2nd Edition of the Annual Global Summit, ‘SemiconIndia Conference 2023′ in Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
- SemiconIndia 2023, the 3-day program held from July 28 to 30, 2023, was organised by India Semiconductor Mission in partnership with industry and industry associations.
- The event showcases the semiconductor strategy and policy of India which envisions making India a global hub for semiconductor design, manufacturing, and technology development.
The theme of SemiconIndia 2023 is ‘Catalysing India’s Semiconductor Ecosystem’.
Aim:
- To make India a global hub for Semiconductor Design, Manufacturing, and Technology development, which will help drive the vision of India Semiconductor Mission.
- To bring together global leaders from industry, academia, and research institutions.
Note: The inaugural ‘SemiconIndia 2022’ was held in Bengaluru, Karnataka from 29th April to 1st May 2022.
Key People:
Bhupendra Patel, Chief Minister(CM) of Gujarat; Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY); Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State (MoS), MeitY; Anirudh Devgan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cadence; Young Liu, Chairman of Foxconn; Anil Aggarwal, Chairman of Vedanta; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of Micron; Mark Papaermaster, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD); Prabhu Raja, President of Semiconductor Products Group Applied Materials (AMAT), were present on the occasion.
Some plans of Major Companies in the Summit:
i.The conference witnessed the participation of representatives of major companies such as Micron Technology, Applied Materials, Foxconn, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), Cadence, and AMD among others.
ii.Mark Papermaster, the Executive Vice President (EVP) and CTO of AMD announced the plan to invest UDS 400 million in India in the next 5 years to increase AMD’s Research & Development (R&D) capabilities.
iii.Sanjay Mehrotra, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Micron Technology, plans to set up a semiconductor assembly and test facility for memory in Gujarat to create nearly 5,000 jobs and 15,000 additional jobs within the community.
India’s Growth in Various Sectors in a Decade:
i.India’s share in global electronic manufacturing has increased a lot, and currently it has crossed USD 100 billion, while in 2014 it was less than USD 30 billion.
ii.The export of electronics and mobile devices has doubled in the last 2 years.
iii.Currently, the number of mobile manufacturing units in India has gone beyond 200, compared to only 2 before 2014.
iv.The number of broadband users in India increased from Rs 6 crores to Rs 80 crores, while at present the number of internet connections rose from Rs 25 crores to more than Rs 85 crores.
v.India’s solar power installed capacity has increased more than 20 times in the last decade, and a new target of 500 gigawatts (GW) of Renewable Energy (RE) capacity has been set to be achieved by the end of this decade.
Highlights:
i.The PM emphasised the Industry 4.0 revolution, a significant transformation in the manufacturing sector, marked by the integration of digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, and robotics, into manufacturing processes.
ii.He discussed the growth of a neo-middle class in India, which has become the powerhouse of Indian aspirations.
iii.By understanding its global responsibilities, India is building a vibrant semiconductor ecosystem with the approval of the National Quantum Mission (NQM) to develop intermediate-scale quantum computers with 50–1000 physical qubits in 8 years on various platforms like superconducting and photonic technology.
iv.The National Research Foundation (NRF) Bill 2023 is going to be introduced in Parliament.
- NRF Bill 2023 seeks to replace the publicly funded mechanism of research support for the scientific community through the Science and Engineering Board (SERB) Act, 2008.
v.In India, there are more than 300 colleges where courses on semiconductors will be available.
vi.The policy reforms taking place in India will have a positive impact on the construction of the semiconductor ecosystem.
Tax Exemptions:
i.The PM highlighted several tax exemptions that have come into effect for the new manufacturing industry, the lowest corporate tax rate in India, faceless and seamless taxation process, abolition of archaic laws, compliances to increase ease of doing business, and special incentives for the semiconductor industry.
ii.He elaborated on giving 50% financial assistance to the technology firms to establish semiconductor manufacturing facilities in India under the SemiconIndia Program.
SemiconIndia future DESIGN DLI: MietY adds two new Semiconductor Design MSMEs
On 29th July 2023, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MietY) included 2 more semiconductor design startups/ o, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) namely Aheesa Digital Innovations and Calligo Technologies under its SemiconIndia future DESIGN Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme at the SemiconIndia 2023 conference in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
- With this inclusion, a total of 7 MSMEs/startups are under the DLI scheme.
Background:
i.Earlier in 2023, MeitY had already approved the names of 5 other startups/MSMEs under the DLI scheme during the 2nd and 3rd DLI Roadshows in February 2023 in Bengaluru (Karnataka) and in May 2023, in Delhi.
ii.The 7 beneficiaries will be working on making chip and IP cores for the automotive, mobility, and computing sectors
DLI Scheme and its Objective:
i.The DLI Scheme is implemented by the Center for Development and Advanced Computing (C-DAC).
ii.Under the DLI Scheme, the ChipIN centre has been set up at C-DAC as a one-stop centre to provide chip design & fabrication services to supported companies.
iii.The DLI scheme offers financial incentives and design infrastructure support for the development and deployment of semiconductor designs for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & Intellectual Property (IP) Cores, and semiconductor linked design(s) over a period of 5 years.
Aheesa Digital Innovations:
i.The Chennai(Tamil Nadu)-based Aheesa Digital Innovations Private Limited (Aheesa) is a fabless semiconductor company that focuses on Telecom, Networking, and Cyber Security domains.
ii.Under the scheme, Aheesa plans to develop its own Aheesa Vihaan series of Networking SoCs, an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system.
iii.The first version of Aheesa Vihaan is based on the soft IP-form C-DAC’s VEGA Processor Core, developed under Digital India RISC-V Processor (DIR-V).
iv.Aheesa would be releasing the Gigabit Passive Optical Networking (GPON)/Ethernet Passive Optical Networking (EPON) Optical Network Terminal (ONT) reference platform (Aheesa Seshnag) based on Aheesa Vihaan with Operating System (OS), drivers, toolchains and applications for Indian Network and Telecom product manufacturers.
Calligo Technologies:
i.Bengaluru(Karnataka)-based Calligo Technologies is also a fabless semiconductor start-up that works in the areas of High-Performance Computing (HPC), Big Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)/machine learning.
ii.The company works to improve computing performance by means of software and hardware acceleration.
iii.Under the scheme, Calligo will develop an accelerator product capable of doing computations, using a new number system- POSITs, which will be integrated into Digital India’s RISC-V Processor (DIR-V) with this co-processor.
iv.It would be creating a highly power-efficient and computationally more accurate Central Processing Unit (CPU) – TUNGA (Technology for Unum – based Next Generation Arithmetic) Silicon.
- This Silicon will power a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe)-based Accelerator Card, UTTUNGA. This solution does not require any source-level modifications to run the HPC/AI Application.
AMD Announces Plan to Invest Approx USD 400 Million in India to Expand Design Center Operations
On 28th July 2023, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), a California (United States of America-USA)-based computing, graphics, and visualization technologies company, committed to investing approximately USD 400 million in India over the next 5 years.
- Mark Papermaster, Executive Vice President (EVP) and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of AMD, announced the investment plans during the second edition of SemiconIndia 2023 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
- The planned investment includes a new AMD campus in Bengaluru(Karnataka) that will serve as the company’s largest design center and is expected to create approximately 3,000 new engineering jobs by the end of 2028.
Key Points:
i.The new AMD campus, which will span 500,000 square feet (46,500 sq m), is expected to open before the end of 2023.
ii.It will feature extensive lab space, state-of-the-art collaboration tools, and seating configurations designed to promote teamwork.
iii.It will also provide tremendous opportunities for a large pool of highly skilled semiconductor engineers and researchers.
iv.The investment is supported by various policy initiatives of the Government of India focused on the semiconductor industry.
Establishment of AMD in India:
AMD has been an active part of the semiconductor ecosystem in India since 2001, when the company established its first site in India at New Delhi, Delhi.
15th Japan-India Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue: India & Japan Explore Collaboration in Semiconductors in Delhi
On 27th July 2023, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, External Affairs Minister (EAM) of India, held the 15th India-Japan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue with Yoshimasa Hayashi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan in New Delhi, Delhi. They explored potential areas of collaboration in critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors; resilient supply chains; and digital public infrastructure, among others.
- This is a part of the plans to reach a target of USD 35.9 billion Japanese investment in India by 2027.
- The Ministers also discussed ways to deepen Defense Equipment and Technology Cooperation.
Key Highlights:
i.The ministers’ emphasized the crucial role of a strong partnership between India and Japan in ensuring a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).
ii.They also highlighted the significance of achieving the investment target of 5 trillion yen (Japanese Yen) in public-private investment and loans to India over the next 5 years (2022–27).
- This goal was set by both India and Japan during Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio’s visit to India in March 2022.
iii.Minister Hayashi requested cooperation to improve the investment environment and for the early establishment of a Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM).
iv.The two ministers affirmed continuing to make steady progress on the high-speed rail project, a flagship project of Japan and India.
v.In order to strengthen medium- to long-term Japan-India relations through people-to-people exchanges, they agreed on expanding human exchanges between the 2 countries, such as tourism and international students.
- India and Japan are celebrating 2023 as the ‘Year of India-Japan Tourism Exchanges’ with the theme of ‘Connecting Himalayas with Mount Fuji’
vi.They also discussed cooperation in the international arena, such as in the Quad countries and Security Council reform.
Recent Related News:
On 9th May 2023, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Purdue University, Indiana, United States of America (USA) in the presence of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MoE&IT), for capacity building, research and development (R&D), and industry participation.
About India Semiconductor Mission (ISM):
It is a specialized and independent Business Division within the Digital India Corporation.
Under the oversight of the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), the ISM was introduced in 2021.
Chairman– Alkesh Kumar Sharma
Chief Executive Officer– Amitesh Kumar Sinha
Headquarters– New Delhi, Delhi
Penned by – Monica Rajendran , PR by – Abarna Anandhan
