LONDON -- More companies are being linked to the Indiangovernment's plan to get one or more semiconductor wafer fabs constructed onthe sub-continent. At least five chip companies have expressed an interest insupporting the project, according to a Hindu Business Line report.
The five are: GlobalFoundries, Infineon Technologies,STMicrolectronics, Russia's Sitronics JSC, and a consortium comprising JaypeeAssociates, IBM, and Tower Semiconductor Ltd, the report said without namingsources. Sitronics is the parent of Mikron JSC (Zelenograd, Russia), Russia'sleading manufacturer of ICs.
Tower (Migdal Haemek, Israel), which trades as TowerJazz,had declared its interest in working on a 300-mm fab project in India inFebruary 2012 but not reveal its consortium partners at that time.
The Hindu Business Line report said that foundry TaiwanSemiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) and chip company FreescaleSemiconductor Inc had turned down the opportunity but that Intel has offered toprovide advisory support.
"While Freescale and TSMC have declined the proposal,Intel has offered advisory support on infrastructure and financial mattersrelated to semiconductor manufacturing," the report quoted an unnamedsource as saying. GlobalFoundries has said it can offer know-how for 200-mmwafer processing and processor intellectual property, the report said.
The report added that Indian government has selectedmanagement consultancy Accenture plc (Dublin, Ireland) to draw up a businessproposal that could be put to the firms. Companies will not commit to theproject until they know how much financial support the Indian government willprovide and in what forms. Wafer fabs around the world are usually built withlocal and national government support and the support tends to be highest forsites where there is no history of chip manufacturing.
The Indian government invited technology providers andinvestors to submit expressions of interest in setting up wafer fabs back inJune 2011. In September 2011 it was reported that 11 companies had pitched tothe Department of Information.
Many observers are skeptical of whether chip manufacturingat anywhere close to the leading-edge is a worthwhile strategy for Indiabecause wafer fabs can cost billions of dollars to set up and other locations,such as Taiwan, have established advantages. Nonetheless the Indian governmenthas fostered the plan to set up chip local manufacturing as a means of easing aforthcoming balance of trade burden.
The government foresees exploding demand in India forconsumer electronics which will be met by imports the country can ill-afford.Local chip manufacturing will not only offset those imports but, the governmentbelieves, bolster the growth of a manufacturing ecosystem from chips throughsoftware to systems.
This story was originally posted by EETimes.
