Technical curriculum to boost semiconductor manufacturing

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched a curriculum for two new programmes on design and manufacturing in semiconductors. This will provide a variety of employment roles and salary incentives for students as well as to boost indigenous manufacturing of semiconductors.

Semiconductor manufacturing: Need for domestic manufacturing –

• Foundation stone of modern electronics industry —
  • • Semiconductors and displays are the foundation of modern electronics industry.
    • These are critical components that power electronics – from computers and smartphones to the brake sensors in cars.
• To reduce import dependency —
  • • As India does not produce any semiconductors, the country’s demands are met with imports.
    • The demand for semiconductors in India will reportedly reach around USD 100 billion by 2025, up from the current demand of USD 24 billion.
• To overcome the disruption in supply-chain — The absence of local manufacturing affected India the most during the lockdown imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Geopolitical significance —
  • • In the current geopolitical scenario, trusted sources of semiconductors and displays hold strategic importance.
    • These are key to the security of critical information infrastructure.
      • E.g., The Department of Telecommunications has in the past raised concerns over possible bugs in the telecom equipment sold by the Chinese company.

Steps taken by the Government to promote indigenous semiconductor industry –

• In December 2021, the Central government had approved the comprehensive program for the development of sustainable semiconductor and display ecosystem in the country. This includes —
  • • India Semiconductor Mission –
      • • It will be set up as the nodal agency for efficient and smooth implementation of the schemes on Semiconductors and Display ecosystem.
        • It will drive the long-term strategies for developing a sustainable semiconductors and display ecosystem.
        • The Mission will be led by global experts in semiconductor and display industry.
    • Semiconductor Design Companies –
      • • The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme shall extend product design linked incentive of up to 50% of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentive of 6% – 4% on net sales for five years.
        • Support will be provided to 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), etc.
        • The scheme intends to facilitate the growth of not less than 20 such companies which can achieve turnover of more than Rs. 1500 crore in the coming five years.
    • Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs —
      • • The Scheme for Setting up of Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs in India shall extend fiscal support of up to 50% of project cost.
        • Central Government will work closely with State Governments to approve applications for setting up at least two greenfield semiconductor fabs and two display fabs in the country.
    • Fiscal Support —
      • • The Central Government has announced incentives for every part of supply chain including electronic components, sub-assemblies, and finished goods.
        • The Government has committed support of Rs. 2,30,000 crore (USD 30 billion) to position India as global hub for electronics manufacturing with semiconductors as the foundational building block.
    • Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for semiconductor —
      • • In September 2022, Union Cabinet approved changes to the Rs 76,000-crore semiconductor Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
        • With this, all semiconductor fab plants will receive fiscal support of 50 per cent, irrespective of node size.
          • Earlier, incentives for semiconductor fabs were based on the size of the node.
    • Chips to Startup (C2S) programme —
      • • In line with Semicon India program, the government has also introduced the Chips to Startup (C2S) programme aims to train 85,000 engineers (Bachelors, Masters and Research level combined) qualified in ESDM disciplines over a period of 5 years.
          • ESDM – Electronic System Design and Manufacturing

Semicon India program and launch of curriculum by AICTE –

• Launched by PM Modi in January 2022, Semicon India program is aimed at the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in India.
• The programme provides for financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem.
• One of the key elements was that India will develop 85,000 semiconductor professionals over 10 years.
• In line with this objective, AICTE within the education ministry has launched two new programs.