'Good number' of applications received under semiconductor manufacturing scheme from global firms: Ashwini Vaishnaw

“Semiconductor manufacturing, which is crucial to meet the strategic needs of the country, has attracted interest from global companies as a good number of applications have been received under the programme,” he said while members of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to MeitY which was held here Monday.

The government had approved the Semicon India Program (Program for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem in India), with an outlay of Rs 760 billion for the development of a sustainable semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in India on December 15, 2021.

Vaishnaw apprised the participants that Several state governments like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are in talks with the companies to set up Semiconductor manufacturing plants/fab complexes.

The Semicon India Program aims to provide attractive incentive support to companies/consortia that are engaged in Silicon Semiconductor Fabs, Display Fabs, Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors (including MEMS) Fabs, Semiconductor Packaging (ATMP / OSAT) and Semiconductor Design.

The programme includes four schemes:

(i) Scheme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs in India provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up semiconductor wafer fabrication facilities in the country. Following fiscal support has been approved under the scheme:

28nm or Lower - Up to 50% of the Project Cost
Above 28 nm to 45nm - Up to 40% of the Project Cost
Above 45 nm to 65nm - Up to 30% of the Project Cost

(ii) Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs in India provides fiscal support to eligible applicants for setting up of Display Fabs which is aimed at attracting large investments for setting up TFT LCD / AMOLED based display fabrication facilities in the country. The Scheme provides fiscal support of up to 50% of Project Cost subject to a ceiling of INR 12,000 crore per Fab.

(iii) Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) / OSAT facilities in India: The Scheme provides a fiscal support of 30% of the Capital Expenditure to the eligible applicants for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics (SiPh) / Sensors (including MEMS) Fab and Semiconductor ATMP / OSAT facilities in India.

(iv) Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme offers financial incentives, design infrastructure support across various stages of development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design. The scheme provides “Product Design Linked Incentive” of up to 50% of the eligible expenditure subject to a ceiling of Rs15 Crore per application and “Deployment Linked Incentive” of 6% to 4% of net sales turnover over 5 years subject to a ceiling of Rs30 Crore per application.

In addition to the above schemes, the government has also approved modernisation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Mohali as a brownfield Fab.

India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been set up as an Independent Business Division within Digital India Corporation having administrative and financial autonomy to formulate and drive India’s long-term strategies for developing semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem.

Envisioned to be led by global experts in the Semiconductor and Display industry, ISM will serve as the nodal agency for efficient, coherent, and smooth implementation of the schemes.