‘Very quickly we’ll see the primary Made-in-India chip’: Ashwini Vaishnaw

Bengaluru

Union Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the nation would witness the rollout of its first made-in-India chip “very soon” as six semiconductor crops are underneath building in Gujarat, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing the ‘Next-Gen Mobility for a Next-Gen City’ programme right here, the IT Minister stated, “Today there are six semiconductor plants under construction in our country and very soon we’ll see the first made in India chip roll out of these factories.”

Emphasising the federal government’s resolve for the simple accessibility of Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied sciences, he stated, “AI is shaping our world today. Our Prime Minister’s vision is of democratising technology. It should be accessible to all. It should not be limited to a few. It should be available to all. That’s why we have done the India AI mission in which 34,000 GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) are available today as a common compute facility for all our innovators.”

“The price of these GPUs is just less than USD 1 per hour. And this is the most affordable common computer facility in the entire world,” the Minister added. 

Speaking on the identical occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi additionally emphasised India’s precedence to develop into “self-reliant” within the know-how sector, stating that the nation will quickly have its “Made in India” chip because the semiconductor mission features momentum.

PM confused that the journey of “Viksit Bharat” will transfer ahead hand in hand with the Digital India initiative. He famous that with the India AI Mission, the nation is advancing in the direction of international AI management. 

“Our next big priority should be becoming self-reliant in technology. The journey to a Viksit Bharat will move forward hand in hand with Digital India. Through initiatives like the India AI Mission, India is advancing toward global AI leadership. He added that the Semiconductor Mission is also gaining momentum, and India will soon have its own Made-in-India chip”, PM Modi stated. 

In May, the Union Cabinet permitted India’s sixth semiconductor manufacturing unit in Jewar in western Uttar Pradesh. It might be established close to Jewar Airport by a three way partnership between the HCL Group and Taiwanese electronics big Foxconn.

The sixth unit is anticipated to generate employment for round 2,000 folks and can assist considerably in strengthening India’s semiconductor ecosystem. The unit at Jewar could have a 20,000 wafers per thirty days capability, and the chips could have 36 million (3.6 crore) per thirty days.

Among different 5 semiconductor crops, 4 are in Gujarat: Tata Electronics–PSMC Semiconductor fab, CG Power–Renesas–Stars Microelectronics ATMP unit , Micron Technology’s ATMP unit and Kaynes Semicon ATMP unit, whereas the Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test (TSAT) Unit is in Assam.

In 2024, the Government of India launched a complete initiative referred to as the India AI Mission aimed toward positioning India as a world hub for synthetic intelligence (AI) analysis, innovation, and adoption. The mission focuses on creating AI options throughout key sectors akin to healthcare, agriculture, schooling, good cities, and infrastructure to drive socio-economic progress.

The technique consists of capability constructing, growth of analysis ecosystems, and partnerships between authorities, trade, and academia.

The authorities has additionally permitted the Semicon India programme with a complete outlay of Rs 76,000 crore for the event of a semiconductor and show manufacturing ecosystem within the nation.

On the opposite hand, to advertise the semiconductor ecosystem, the central authorities, in June, launched pioneering reforms within the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) guidelines. The reforms goal to deal with the specialised wants of the semiconductor and electronics element manufacturing sectors.

Since manufacturing in these sectors is extremely capital-intensive, import-dependent and entails longer gestation durations earlier than turning worthwhile, rule amendments have been carried out to advertise pioneering investments and enhance manufacturing in these high-technology sectors.

Going additional, Vaishnaw knowledgeable that India has develop into the highest provider of smartphones to the United States, with electronics manufacturing now value Rs 12 lakh crore.

He stated that India’s digital manufacturing has grown six instances within the final 11 years.

The Minister additional identified the exponential rise in digital exports, which have elevated eightfold to succeed in 3 lakh crore rupees. Vaishnaw additionally famous India’s place because the world’s second-largest producer of cellphones, underscoring the nation’s increasing function within the international electronics market.

“Our electronic production has grown 6 times in the last 11 years. Today, electronics manufacturing has touched 12 lakh crore rupees. Electronic exports have increased by 8 times… Today, it has grown to 3 lakh crore rupees. India has become the second-largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world” he stated. 

According to official authorities information, India has made vital progress in cell and electronics manufacturing, changing into the world’s 2nd largest cell manufacturing nation. In 2014, India had solely 2 cell manufacturing models, however quick ahead to immediately, the nation boasts over 300 manufacturing models, underscoring a big growth on this important sector.

READ MORE: Youth Icons of recent India within the 2000s

In 2014 -15 solely 26 per cent of the cellphones which had been being bought in India had been made in India, the remaining had been being imported. It is value mentioning that immediately, 99.2 per cent of all cellphones that are bought in India are made in India. The manufacturing worth of cellphones has surged from Rs 18,900 crore in FY14 to a staggering Rs 4,22,000 crore in FY24.