As India's INR760-billion (US$92 billion) semiconductor and display fabs incentive scheme did not attract enough interest from global semiconductor majors, India is reportedly looking to give it another try.
Bloomberg quoted sources saying that India intends to restart the application procedure for incentives and support worth US$10 billion to promote domestic chip manufacturing. Additionally, India may eliminate the earlier 45-day submission deadline and make the process indefinite. This decision was made after the previous attempt to attract applicants last year was seen as unsuccessful, with only three applicants showing interest and yet to make significant progress so far.
Unnamed sources told Bloomberg that India is considering allowing more companies to apply until the budget outlay of INR760 billion is exhausted.
Three applicants, including a Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture, ISMC, and IGSS Ventures, applied for wafer fab projects in India in early 2022. However, all of them have made little progress since the incentive scheme was announced for over a year.
Multiple media reported that the Vedanta and Foxconn JV is struggling to secure a technology partner with production-grade technology, and they had been discussing with GlobalFoundries and STMicroelectronics for technology licensing. ISMC, which Next Orbit Ventures and Tower Semiconductor formed, is still waiting for the acquisition deal of Tower Semiconductor by Intel to be completed.
Meanwhile, Mint and The Economic Times reported that India's communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is making a three-day visit to San Francisco, US. One of his goals is to encourage US-based technology and chip majors to invest and make in India.
Mint quoted Vaishnaw saying that India is the most cost-effective country with talents, so the next big destination has to be India, adding that industry leaders appreciated the policy actions, adding that India has to be the next big destination for the semiconductor industry, which is set to double to US$1 trillion.
According to the reports, Vaishnaw met with Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and visited Applied Materials. He will meet senior executives of HP, Intel, Western Digital Micron, and AMD.
