Govt plans new chip package, may top first’s size of Rs 76k crore – Times of India

GREATER NOIDA: As global and homegrown companies, which have lined up plans in India, promised investment and jobs in the country, govt on Wednesday said that more incentives are on their way.
The Centre has started working on the second phase of the semiconductor policy – Semicon 2.0, which is expected to be in place in three-four months, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
At SEMICON India 2024, Vaishnaw said 3-4 states have attracted semiconductor investments, and one unit is likely to come up in Uttar Pradesh soon.
Benefits worth Rs 76,000 crore from the first package have been committed with a spurt in investment announcements, including by Micron and Tatas, and the govt now wants to announce a fresh package for those coming in now.

Sources said the new package, which will be placed before the Cabinet soon, will “in all likelihood be much bigger than the previous one”. TOI had reported in its April 29 editions about the plans for a new package.
Already, the first round of incentives has prompted the Tatas to announce two units – Gujarat and Assam – with a combined investment of nearly Rs 1.2 lakh crore.
Tata Electronics president and CEO Randhir Thakur said the company will work with partners to create sophisticated chips, while generating employment. “We will create 50,000 jobs as part of this journey. This is just the beginning. Every semiconductor job will create 10 additional jobs in the ecosystem,” said Thakur.
Kurt Sievers, CEO of Dutch NXP Semiconductors, spoke about doubling the R&D efforts of the company to above $1 billion. He said India has three critical elements to enable the growth of business – innovation, democracy and trust. “NXP is here to stay, and to boost semiconductor production in India – for India and the world. We are in India for 50 years and have 3,000 employees and engineers.”
Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata said the company will double its headcount in India next year to shoulder a lot more of the value-added advanced semiconductor design activities for the Indian as well as the global markets. “We are privileged to partner CG Power in India to establish one of India’s first assembly and test capabilities in Sanand, Gujarat.”
Larsen & Toubro also has plans to invest more than $300 million to create a chip company. The tech-to-construction company will spend the money over three years to establish a fabless chipmaker, which designs and sells semiconductors but contracts out their production. It plans to design 15 products by the end of this year and start sales in 2027, Sandeep Kumar, head of L&T Semiconductor Technologies, said.
Luc Van Den, CEO of R&D provider IMEC, said work around semiconductors requires patience to build scale. “It’s not a sprint, but a marathon… the world needs a reliable supply chain and who can be a better trusted partner here than the world’s largest democracy.”