New Delhi: The Cabinet has given in-principle approval to the proposal of setting up two semiconductor manufacturing facilities in the country. The move will give a boost to domestic production of electronics goods.
Till now the country is highly dependent on imports for meeting electronic product requirement, including chips, and therefore, the fab (semiconductor fabrication plant) units would assist in checking such imports.
The Cabinet took the decision after considering proposals from two consortia led by Israel's Tower Semiconductor (TSEM) and Franco-Italian STMicroelectronics (STM).
While Tower Semiconductor has partnered with International Business Machines and Jaypee Associates, STM has partnership with Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The investment envisaged for the two units is around Rs 25,000 crore and the level of Government support for these units will be decided through negotiation with chip makers.
Every year India uses nearly $7 billion of semiconductor productsr. By 2020, it is expected to reach $55 billion.
