Union Cabinet approves a new semiconductor plant in Sanand ,Gujarat
Science and Technology
4 min read
The Union Cabinet, in a meeting held in New Delhi on 2 September 2204 and chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of the Kaynes Semicon Pvt Ltd to establish a semiconductor unit in Sanand, Gujarat.
Since the announcement of India's Semiconductor Mission in 2022, this is the fifth proposal by a company to set up a semiconductor plant in India.
Kaynes Semicon Pvt Limited’s Sanand Plant
The Indian company Kaynes Semicon Pvt Limited will invest around Rs 3,300 crore in the Sanand plant, which will have the capacity to produce 60 lakh chips per day.
The chips will be used for a variety of applications, including industrial, automotive, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, telecom, and mobile phones.
The company has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lightspeed Photonics, a Singapore-based company, to provide technical assistance.
The company expects to produce the first chip by mid-2025.
The company will use the maximum number of chips produced to supply its customers in Singapore, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Other Approved Semiconductor Proposals in India
- Under the India Semiconductor Mission, the government of India has approved a proposal from the American company Micron for setting up a semiconductor unit in Sanand in June 2023.
- In February 2024, the government approved three more proposals to set up semiconductor units.
- The Tata Group’s Tata Electronics is setting up two semiconductor plants in India. It is setting up a semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat, and one semiconductor unit in Morigaon, Assam.
- A fab (fabrication facility) is short for a fabrication plant, where raw silicon wafers are processed and turned into integrated circuits.
- Murugappa Group’s CG Power is setting up one semiconductor unit in Sanand.
- The total investment in these four plants is expected to be Rs 1.5 lakh crore. They will have the capacity to produce about seven crore chips per day.
India’s Semiconductor Mission
On 29 December 2022, the then Union Information and Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, launched the India Semiconductor Mission with a total outlay of Rs 76,000 crore.
The main aim of the policy is to encourage the domestic and foreign companies to set up
chip manufacturing plants in India.
What are semiconductors?
A semiconductor is a material product having the properties of both conductors and insulators.
Semiconductors are usually made of silicon, germanium, or compounds: gallium, arsenide, or cadmium selenide.
Semiconductors conduct electricity more than an insulator but less than a pure conductor, such as copper or aluminium.
The semiconductors are considered the basic building blocks of modern electronics and information and communications technology products.
They are used in mobile phones, TVs, transistors, automobiles, spacecraft, etc.
