India's semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem development is speeding up after embracing pragmatism by starting with ATMP, followed by the foundry business, and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) expects five ATMP facilities to emerge in the next five years.
According to a corporate filing, India-based CG Power, Renesas Electronics America, and Stars Microelectronics formed a joint venture, with the trio investing US$205 million, US$15 million, and US$2 million, respectively, to establish an ATMP facility in India, with the location remained unclear. The total investment is expected to increase to US$791 million after the joint venture receives other financing, such as subsidies, debt, and equity contributions.
On the other hand, Mint and the Economic Times quoted Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister of state for electronics and IT of India, saying that the eastern state of Assam is expected to see an INR250 billion (US$3 billion) ATMP facility being set up in partnership with the local government and Tata Group. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chief Minister of Assam, announced Tata's plan to set up an ATMP facility in the state in December 2023, reports PTI.
The joint venture and announcement followed similar developments, including India-based companies foraying into the ATMP business and Taiwan-based companies partnering with local firms on ATMP ventures, such as Foxconn-HCL and Aptos Technology-Kaynes Semicon.
According to ITIF, India may see up to five facilities established in the ATMP segment and attract fabs producing mature nodes at 28nm or above in the next five years.
In December 2021, when the Indian government unveiled the Semicon India Program to incentivize semiconductor and display manufacturing, the government focused on the technology- and capital-intensive foundry business. As all three applications failed to obtain approval from India, the country changed tack and put equal resources on foundry and ATMP businesses by an upward revision of subsidies for ATMP projects from 30% to 50% of the investment cost.
Chris Miller, author of Chip Wars, told the Hindustan Times in an interview in August 2023 that India has a lot of scope to win investments in the ATMP segment, adding that South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore entered the ATMP business before moving to fabrication.
ITIF cited data showing that China constituted 38% of global ATMP activity, followed by Taiwan's 37%, with 111 and 107 ATMP facilities located in the two economies as of November 2022.
