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Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Monday held a meeting in Gandhinagar, taking a first-hand review of all four semiconductor chip plants that are under various stages.
Talking to reporters after the review meeting, which was attended by the Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, and IT Minister Arjun Modhwadia, the Union minister said work on all four projects is "showing good progress". He highlighted the significant focus on electronics manufacturing and semiconductor fabrication in India for its growth, as emphasized by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Three plants are expected to reach a good production level within the next two to three months, with pilot production already started at Kaynes and CG sites," Minister Vaishnaw said. Micron's mini-plant has already begun pilot production and now being ramped up, and the fab being built in Dholera is also progressing well, he said. "Dholera is set to become a major high-tech manufacturing hub, in the days to come," the Union minister told reporters. Semiconductors are at the heart of modern technology. They power essential systems in healthcare, transport, communication, defence, and space. As the world moves toward greater digitalisation and automation, semiconductors have become integral to economic security and strategic independence. In just four years, since the launch of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) in 2021, India has transformed its semiconductor journey from vision to reality. To support this vision, the government had announced a Rs 76,000 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, of which a majority of the corpus has already been committed into various projects. On August 28, a major milestone in India's semiconductor journey was achieved with the launch of one of the country's first end-to-end Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) Pilot Line Facilities in Sanand, Gujarat. Semiconductor company CG-Semi rolled out the first 'Made in India' chip from this pilot facility. In June 2023, the government approved the first proposal for establishing a semiconductor unit in Sanand. As of the date, the government has approved 10 semiconductor manufacturing projects with a cumulative investment of more than Rs 1.60 lakh crore in six states: Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has already begun work on the next phase of India's semiconductor programme, Semicon 2.0, and is currently holding internal discussions and with various line ministries to finalise its contours. (ANI)
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