New Delhi: The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), tasked with leading the country’s $10 billion semiconductor manufacturing drive, is all set to open a new application window for semiconductor fab proposals from June 1. The move comes amid indications that existing contenders will update and resubmit their plans.
Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar outlined the revised direction in light of the limited response to the initial 45-day application window for 28nm fabs in January 2022, which received only three applications. The renewed strategy allows for new applications from both new and existing players that can operate on different nodes.
“The first window for the more expensive 28nm fab was kept open for 45 days in January 2022 only and three applicants were received which were evaluated by ISM and its advisory group. The strategy is now also encouraging mature nodes of >40 nm – existing n new players can apply fresh in different nodes for which they have technology. It is expected that some of the existing applicants will apply again and fresh new investors will also apply,” the minister said.
His comments came in response to a Bloomberg report that the Vedanta-Foxconn semiconductor plant, the lead applicant among the three that applied last year, will not get approval from the government.
The Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture under which Anil Agarwal promoted Vedanta Resources and the semiconductor arm of the world’s largest contract manufacturer Foxconn have agreed to jointly set up a semiconductor fab plant, a display fab plant and an outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant. announced an investment of $20 billion for Dholera, Gujarat. The bulk of the investment is for the semiconductor fab plant.
Other applicants include the International Semiconductor Consortium (ISMC), a partnership between Abu Dhabi’s Next Orbit Ventures and Israel’s Tower Semiconductor (now under acquisition by Intel), and IGSS Ventures from Singapore.
Mint reported earlier this year that the ISMC would resubmit its application under the revised scheme where the subsidy was raised to 50% as compared to the earlier 30%, and the manufacturing of high-end nodes – above 40 nm – was allowed.
The three consortia had initially submitted their applications under the $10 billion Semicon India program launched by the government in December 2021. Despite expectations that Vedanta-Foxconn will be the first to be approved, none of the initial three proposals have been approved so far.
According to government and industry sources, the Vedanta-Foxconn proposal was expected to be the first of the three to get government approval. So far none of the three proposals has been approved.
In a statement, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on Wednesday said that the government has decided to invite fresh applications for setting up semiconductor fabs and display fabs in India from June 01, 2023, under the revised Semicon India programme, which is open till Will remain December 2024.
“All the applicants who had applied under the Scheme for Establishment of Semiconductor Fab and Scheme for Establishment of Display Fab (earlier scheme) have applied under the Revised Scheme for Establishment of Semiconductor Fab and Revised Scheme for Establishment of Display Fab Submissions are permitted. After incorporating suitable amendments in their proposals,” the statement said.
It added that the application window of the Design Linked Incentive or DLI scheme will also remain open till December 2024. The ministry said that so far 26 applications have been received under the DLI scheme and five have been approved.
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Updated: May 31, 2023, 01:37 PM IST