Policy certainty will ensure success of efforts to boost chip ecosystem in India: Micron official

Mumbai: US chip maker Micron Technology on Wednesday said policy clarity and certainty are important for boosting India's chip ecosystem as it is the most capital-intensive industry. Micron is building a $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and packaging plant at Sanand in Gujarat. Addressing a Nasscom summit here, Manish Bhatia, Executive Vice-President for global operations at Micron, said, “what is needed apart from the many advantages that you offer us is the certainty of policies as it involves coming together of a vast ecosystem. India being a democracy is an advantage over many other developing countries that are vying for some of these big manufacturing investments. What's going to be needed to attract more companies like Micron... is predictability on policy, not just for the next five years, but for the next 25 years or beyond,” Bhatia said.

The foundation stone for the plant was laid in September last year and is expected to be commissioned by December 2024. The plant has been approved under the Centre's modified assembly, testing, marking, and packaging scheme. Bhatia said policy clarity and certainty is more important in this segment as "semiconductors are the most capital-intensive industry. You need to have predictably in policy because we're not going to be opening and closing our plants. So stability in public policy is a must for us to be able to invest with confidence. Something that Taiwan, Korea, and Japan offered in the past and still offer and they have thriving semiconductor ecosystems," he said.

However, he said the country has a tremendous opportunity to be able to create all sectors that can be successful over the next 5-10 or 15-20 years. But this needs a directed policy and alignment between all stakeholders -- central government, state governments, educational institutions, etc. He said he expects the Sanand project to start production early next year. China is the leader in the chip-making space with a 38 per cent share, followed by Taiwan with 27 per cent and Japan, and South Korea at 16 per cent each, according to a 2021 report by BCG and the Semiconductor Industry Association. The $500 billion global chip industry will double to $1 trillion by the turn of 2030, Bhatia added.