The India Electronics & Semiconductor Association (IESA) has lauded the Government of India’s notification of the Semiconductor Wafer Fab (fab). The IESA deems the fab a highly strategic game changer for India, welcoming the fructification of the proposal.
Some of the world’s leading economies including the USA, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and China besides a number of developing economies like Malaysia and Israel have their own fabs. These fabs continue to contribute significantly to the growth and development of the economy of their respective countries and we hope that this would be the case in India as well.
The IESA looks at the fab as India building strategic technology capability which will leapfrog the country ahead by several years, in development of indigenous electronic products and tremendously aid in the development of a local fabless semiconductor industry. IESA also believes that the presence of a local fab in India would boost the country’s capability to build IP assets within India. We reiterate that in terms of its impact and implications, the fab must be treated on par with India’s investments in her space and nuclear programmes.
The commencement of building the fab comes at a time when the Indian economy is at a point of inflection. It will arrest project costs from further escalation and will give the Indian ESDM ecosystem a boost to take their place as a leader in the global economy.
India, today consumes close to $7 billion of semiconductor products every year. By 2020, when the total ESDM market is expected to reach $400 billion, this consumption is expected to rise to touch $55 billion.
With the location of a fab in India, the country could achieve a degree of self-sufficiency in electronics, and partially reduce the very high supply chain risks that India is exposed to, without an alternate source for procurement.