New Delhi:
US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed a watershed association to arrange a semiconductor fabrication plant targeted on superior sensing, communication, and energy electronics for nationwide safety, subsequent technology telecommunications, and inexperienced power functions.
The plant (or fab), which shall be constructed with the target of producing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, shall be enabled by assist from the India Semiconductor Mission in addition to a strategic know-how partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Area Drive.
In a historic second, the primary ever Nationwide safety Fab in India is introduced as a know-how partnership between Indian companies Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech and US house power. That is the primary ever India-US Semiconductor Fab cooperation of its form.
It is for the primary time the US army has agreed to do a know-how partnership for these extremely valued applied sciences with India, so it is a watershed second as highly effective because the civil nuclear deal.
The fab turns into not solely India’s first, however one of many world’s first multi-material fab for nationwide safety. The Bharat Semi fab titled Shakti additionally turned one of many first fabs of its form within the Quad. The Fab will concentrate on three important pillars for the trendy warfighting – superior sensing, superior communications and high-voltage energy electronics.
These three areas have big rising wants for industrial sectors akin to railways, telecom infrastructure, information centres and inexperienced power. These semiconductors fall below a household often called ‘compound semiconductors’.
Three Fundamental Expertise Areas
The three essential know-how areas are infrared, galium nitride, and silicon carbide. It’s a part of PM Modi’s imaginative and prescient for India to turn into a chipmaker from a chip-taker. This fab will turn into a nationwide asset and additional assist India’s targets of turning into a web safety supplier within the area.
For a rustic to turn into a web safety supplier it must turn into a web know-how supplier. It is a glass ceiling that has been damaged in tech diplomacy and years down the highway will probably be seen in historical past as a watershed second in India-US relationship.
India’s present import invoice in these semiconductors for nationwide safety alone is $1 Billion a 12 months. India and the US have signed a number of cooperation offers targeted on vital tech with a particular concentrate on semiconductors, from iCET to commerce to commerce MOU to the strategic commerce dialogue.
This turns into the primary true India US semiconductor fab mission. Different initiatives up to now have included testing and meeting OSAT. However that is elevating the sport and going into true chip fabrication – the holy grail of semiconductors.
After this know-how partnership, India will be a part of a handful of elite nations with the aptitude and knowhow to fabricate a majority of these semiconductors on shore.
Bharat Semi and 3rdiTech are a real iCET success story and a real success story of PM Modi’s Atmnanirbhar imaginative and prescient From the launch of iCET in January 2023 to constructing India’s first compound semiconductor fab for nationwide safety.
That is historical past within the making as Bharat Semi and 3rdiTech emerge as nationwide champions and actually the primary Indian homegrown semiconductor built-in design and manufacturing firm (IDM).