PM Modi Announces Semiconductor Plant In Kolkata, Names It 'Durga Shakti'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, while addressing the Indian diaspora at Nassau Coliseum in New York, announced that a semiconductor plant will be established in West Bengal's Kolkata, which will be called ‘Durga Shakti’. PM Modi said that India in a joint venture with the United States will establish a watershed arrangement for a new semiconductor fabrication facility in Kolkata. Prime Minister Modi made this announcement at an event in New York’s Long Island, where the Indian-Americans had gathered to listen to the prime minister.

During his three-day US visit, PM Modi held discussions on how the two nations can collaborate better to chart a technology partnership for the future. During the discussion, the two leaders praised combined efforts to “facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains,” of which the upcoming semiconductor facility will be a key part.

As per the information, under a transformative collaboration with the US, India will get its first-ever national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will produce chips for use in military hardware in both the countries as well as in critical telecommunication networks and electronics. The ambitious India-US joint project was announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Wilmington on Saturday.

The two leaders hailed the first-ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership as a "watershed arrangement", according to a joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks.

US Military Agreed To Do Partnership For 1st Time For High-Value Technologies

The project will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission and will be part of a strategic technology partnership among Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force. It will not only become India's first, but one of the world's first multi-material fab for national security, people aware of the matter said.

It is the first time that the US military has agreed to do a partnership for these high-value technologies with India and it is a watershed moment as it is as significant as the civil nuclear deal, they said.

"President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications, and green energy applications," the fact sheet noted.

It also said the "fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India semiconductor mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force".

‘Encouraging Development To National Security Elements’

The Fab, to be known as 'Shakti', will focus on three essential pillars for modern war fighting advanced sensing, advanced communications and high voltage power electronics. At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri described the initiative as "an enormously encouraging development", adding that "national security elements" are involved on both sides.

There will be applications of the products in national security areas, he said.

Explaining the significance of the project, he said, "This is a different Fab in the sense that this has been established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors."

"And it will be supported by the Indian Semiconductor Mission as well as the Strategic Technology Partnership. I think what this represents is, first, the increasing and very substantial design as well as manufacturing capacities that are latent in India's semiconductor sector," he said.

The project will go down in history books as a watershed moment in the India-US relationship, said one of the people on condition of anonymity. India's current import bill for these semiconductors for national security is USD one billion a year, according to estimates.