Can India become a chip superpower by 2047?

During an interview I was informed that there are more nuclear powers than there are chip powers. That’s food for thought and throws light on the importance of the semiconductor industry. 

Intel has been a top name for decades. Now other names are pushing ahead. While Apple and Microsoft touched peak market capitalization of $3 trillion, only two other companies have touched $2 trillion. The first is Alphabet and the second is Nvidia. Who would have thought that the N in FAANG stood for Nvidia and not Netflix! Nvidia made it to the $2 trillion club ahead of Amazon, Meta and Tesla.

In terms of manufacturing, the top 3 countries are South Korea, Taiwan and China, with Japan slightly behind. The standout company here is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (TSMC) which Wikipedia describes as “The world's largest dedicated independent ("pure-play") semiconductor foundry.” For years we used to hear of Intel and AMD. But now it’s Nvidia and TSMC. Both these companies are $50 billion+ companies in terms of revenue.

So where does India stand? While you could say that we have maybe kept missing the bus, we could have finally caught it with all the latest policies. It is interesting to note that the government founded the Semi-Conductor Laboratory way back in 1976 and it started production in 1984. But a mysterious fire broke out in 1989 and production could only restart in 1997. Since then, things have been pretty slow.

Then came the Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for semiconductors which attracted the likes of Foxconn. Now on Feb 29 this year, the government announced three more semiconductor units in a $15 billion project which has been described by them as a “Giant leap for India Semiconductor Mission”. 

A joint project between the Tatas and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) will set up a semiconductor fab in Sanand (Gujarat). The Tatas will also launch a semiconductor unit in Morigaon (Assam). Finally in a three-way tie-up, CG Power, Japan’s Renesas Electronics Corporation and Thailand’s Stars Microelectronics will set up a semiconductor unit in Sanand.

While the journey is still very long one to become a chip power, at least it has begun in earnest. The pandemic showed us the vulnerability of global supply chains and the importance of the chip in each and every facet of modern life. Most countries have realized how critical semiconductors are for the digital world and India is no exception.