3 Quad partners go big on chip biz with India

Tribune News Service

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, July 30

India’s technology and strategic partners — US, Japan and Australia — were represented on the concluding day of the three-day semiconductor conference at Gandhinagar today.

The theme for discussion at opening session of Semicon-2023 today was ‘International collaboration for trusted and resilient semiconductor supply chain’. The participants included Mike Hankey, Consul General, US Embassy, Kyoko Hokugo, Minister Economy and Development, Japan, and Georgina Rose Mckay, First Secretary (Economy), Australian High Commission.

Semiconductor tie-ups in 6 months

• On July 20, Japan inked pact on development of semiconductor ecosystem to promote manufacture, research, design and supply chain
• In June, US’ Micron declared $825 mn investment & Applied Materials $400 mn; LAM Tech decided to train 60K engineers in India
• In March, Australia announced critical minerals investment partnership with India, focussing on lithium and cobalt

The panel was moderated by Anshuman Tripathi, Member, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). Tripathi is a US-returned engineer, who has worked on semiconductors.

Incidentally, the three nations along with India form the Quadrilateral of the ‘Quad’ grouping that looks to dominate the Indo-Pacific. In the past six months, India has announced technology tie-ups for semiconductors with all three countries.

Just 10 days ago, on July 20, India and Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation for development of a semiconductor ecosystem that will promote manufacture, research, design, talent development, and supply chain resilience. Japan is a leader in the semiconductor industry, and lead silicon wafer and ingot manufacturing. In March, India and Australia announced “India-Australia Critical Minerals Investment Partnership”. The two nations are looking at lithium and cobalt. The semiconductor alliance between India and the US showed up in a big way during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington DC in June. US company Micron declared investment of $825 million, while another $400 million investment is being made by Applied Materials and LAM Technologies is training 60,000 engineers in India.

Yesterday, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and Lam Research. They aim to develop a specialised course for Indian universities, teaching semiconductor fabrication technology using Lam Research’s Semiverse Solutions virtual fabrication software and simulator.

An India-US joint statement after a bilateral meeting between Modi and US President Joe Biden stated “technology will play the defining role in deepening our partnership”.

The US Semiconductor Industry Association and India Electronics Semiconductor Association have already released an interim readiness assessment to identify near-term industry opportunities and facilitate the strategic development of complementary semiconductor ecosystems.

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