'Made in India' Chips to Hit the Market Soon: New Semiconductor Projects Unveiled

India is currently preparing two to three additional semiconductor projects using the leftover funds from its Rs 76,000 crore Semicon 1.0 program, even as discussions intensify with the Finance Ministry over a new framework for Semicon 2.0.

What Is Happening To These Leftover Funds?

According to S Krishnan, the Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has confirmed that almost all the funds under the first phase of the semiconductor mission have already been committed to the cause.

"I would say that funds are almost fully committed under the Semicon One scheme. We might be able to just accommodate two or three small projects. So with that, that program would be at end. Our Semicon 2 scheme is now being structured, and we are in discussions with the Finance Ministry and other ministries in the Government of India to take that forward," Krishnan told ANI.

In the first phase, Rs 65,000 crore was earmarked for fabs, Rs 10,000 crore for the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali, and Rs 1,000 crore for the Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme.

Nearly Rs 63,000 crore has already been committed for fabs alone, which leaves very limited fiscal space, according to Krishnan. Ten projects have been cleared so far and are at various stages of implementation.

He further added, "By before the end of this year, we should be seeing the first commercially India-made chips, which will come out of some of the facilities that are being built currently. Truly, India has established its footprint in this area very clearly."

Startups Fuelling The Move

The country's initial progress in the semiconductor space has been driven primarily by startups and academic working on chip design.

"Startups in the semiconductor space are mostly in the design space. We have a design-linked incentive scheme for startups, which has been quite successful. There are about 23 startups that have been approved under that scheme," Krishnan said.

Krishnan also noted that at present nearly "280 academic institutions are using those tools, and 72 startups," are using the tools provided by MeitY's Chips to Startups program, which provides access to advanced EDA and design tools.

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