The minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar in a statement said that the electronics production in the country has witnessed a significant growth whether it is for domestic consumption or the exports which have resulted in boosting the semiconductor demand in India. This creates a solid case for India to start manufacturing its own chips. The minister also talked about the other reasons that put up the case for India to start domestic manufacturing.
Why India Should Manufacture Semiconductors?
Yesterday a report informed that the Cupertino-based tech giant Apple’s contractors are eyeing to manufacture iPhones worth Rs 47,000 crore this year itself. This is a huge step up and is almost five times the Rs 10,000 crore worth of iPhones that were manufactured in the previous financial year by Foxconn and Wistron. The financial year 2023 will mark the second year of the production linked incentives (PLI) scheme. To become eligible for the scheme, Foxconn, Wistron and Pegatron are all required to make iPhones worth Rs 8,000 crore.
The minister of State for Electronics and IT was speaking in Bengaluru ahead of the three-day Semicon Conference 2022. He stated that there is more than one reason why India should get into manufacturing. He talked about the sturdy design and innovation ecosystem in the country. He further added that the country is leading in the three main drivers for semiconductors – automotive, computer and mobile devices and a new generation of processors which are data-driven, artificial intelligence. Chandrasekhar explained that India should not get into semiconductor manufacturing just because the whole world is doing it but rather for expansion of the digital economy opportunities to include semiconductors.
The Semicon Conference 2022 is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday and is envisioned as the launchpad to kickstart India’s ambition of becoming the global semiconductor hub and nurturing the chip design and manufacturing ecosystem. Many global experts from the industry, academia as well as research institutions such as the founder of Indo-Us Venture Partners - Vinod Dham; Sanjay Mehrotra, President & CEO of Micron Technology; Randhir Thakur, President, Intel Foundry Services, Intel and more will become part of the conference.
