|
India close to joining fab club |
|
|
|
Mar 28, 2007 at 03:46 PM |
 With the recent ratification of incentives for attracting hi-tech industries that include semiconductors, India could now be on a path that will establish semiconductor front-end fabrication facilities. Perhaps first in the race to secure its share of the benefits is Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, headed by Dr. Deven Verma (pictured).
Verma is a founder of Redwood Ventures and Edgewood Ventures from
Silicon Valley and a past diplomat at the Indian Embassy in Washington.
In a joint press release it was announced that Infineon Technologies AG
will license its 130nm CMOS process technology to Hindustan
Semiconductor, a foundry start-up.
"We have strategically selected Infineon, a leading supplier of chip sets for mobile phones, smart cards and automotive applications," stated Dr. Deven Verma, Chairman of the Board of Hindustan Semiconductor. "This initiative will lead India to become a destination of choice for the future of manufacturing hi-tech products. While India's GDP is around 9 percent, the development of semiconductor manufacturing will help catapult the GDP to approximately 10-11 percent per year."
Although Infineon will provide engineering staff to support the process transfer and set-up of Hindustan Semiconductor's first fab (200mm), the German chip manufacturer said it would not be a direct business partner. Infineon will also license its related design libraries.
The Honorable Minister for Communication and Information Technology of the Government of India, Thiru Dayanidhi Maran, said: "I am very pleased that one of the world's leading semiconductor companies, Infineon Technologies, is entering into a strategic cooperation with HSMC for the fab project. Most of the Infineon products have large market potential for India. This is in line with my vision for the semiconductor industry. The domestic demand for semiconductors is projected to reach $36 billion by 2015 riding on the booming electronic goods manufacturing in India. We need the fabrication industry in India to complete the full semiconductor ecosystem. Now, with a clear-cut policy in place, Fab units in India will attract large investments, and the state governments could take it further by attracting large players like Infineon and HSMC."
Hindustan Semiconductor plans to spend approximately $1 billion on a 200mm fab, indicating that used equipment will be predominantly used. The plan is for production to begin in two years. However, no site has been officially announced yet. The bigger plan is to eventually build a 300mm facility.
|
