India’s only chip fab is getting Rs 4,500 crore. The shopping list is clearer than the mission
The post India’s only chip fab is getting Rs 4,500 crore. The shopping list is clearer than the mission appeared first on The Ken .
India’s sole semiconductor manufacturing facility, SCL in Mohali, is set to receive a Rs 4,500 crore upgrade. However, the enhancements are less ambitious than the government’s lofty claims. While the minister of electronics and information technology promises a hundredfold increase in production capacity, a closer look reveals a more modest 3X increase and a few extra technological capabilities.
This is still a significant improvement for a government-run facility that has long performed chip design, fabrication, packaging, and testing all under one roof. SCL has served government space and defence programs and trained around 70,000 students and supported startups and academic chip prototyping. The facility operates on a mature 180 nm technology node, which, while dated, still enables the production of chips for a variety of industrial and strategic applications, including power management.
Despite undergoing multiple revamps and considering joint ventures with commercial partners, the new plan involves shortlisted bidders like Tata Semiconductor, Cyient Semiconductors, and Applied Materials. However, the ultimate impact of this upgrade remains to be seen, as it falls short of the government’s grand expectations.
Written by urgent.news from The Ken's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
