India’s push to secure place in global chip supply has ‘secret weapon’: its people
Building up its pool of design talent can gain it a spot higher up in the value chain by turning ‘Make in India’ to ‘Engineer in India’
But observers say the country should set its sights even higher upstream on the value chain by mobilising its “secret weapon” – a talent pool that could realise its dream to turn “Make in India” into “Engineer in India”.
New Delhi earlier this week launched the second phase of its mission with a budget of US$13 billion to build an industrial ecosystem spanning chip design to manufacturing. Building on the first phase, which focused heavily on foundational industrial set-up, the second expands support across the entire supply chain, including developing a large manpower pool.
The move on Monday comes as other countries in the region, such as Japan and Singapore, outline multibillion-dollar development plans for their semiconductor industries following chip shortages during the Covid-19 pandemic that exposed dependency on a handful of East Asian manufacturers.
Delhi has already approved 12 semiconductor manufacturing projects across six states. Three – Micron, Keynes Semicon and CG Semi – have started commercial production this year. They primarily handle assembly, testing and packaging rather than advanced wafer fabrication.