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India is gearing up to produce its semiconductor manufacturing equipment, according to IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. Speaking at the opening of Applied Materials’ India Validation Centre in Bengaluru, Vaishnaw highlighted that India will now manufacture everything needed for semiconductor production, including fabs, chemicals, and equipment.
According to an Economic Times report, Applied Materials invested $20 million in the center, employing 500 people.
The IT minister claimed that “the entire semiconductor ecosystem of fabs, ATMP units, chemicals, gases, substrates, consumables, and equipment for semiconductor manufacturing will be made in India.”
Additionally, Applied Materials announced a $400 million investment over four years to establish an engineering center in Bengaluru for semiconductor manufacturing technology.
The minister also mentioned that agreements made during the Prime Minister’s US visit have come to fruition, including the commencement of Micron’s ATMP construction and LAM Research’s Semiverse Solutions for semiconductor engineer training.
Furthermore, as part of the agreements, Applied Materials will establish a center in India, while AMD will inaugurate a design center in Bengaluru. These developments mark significant progress in India’s semiconductor industry.
Sonny Kunnakkat, managing director of Applied Materials’ Advanced Manufacturing Technology, Worldwide Operations, stated that the newly established facility in India will be the first private one capable of processing 300 mm wafers, a significant advancement from the country’s previous 200 mm wafer processing capacity.
While acknowledging the existence of a 300-mm processing facility at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kunnakkat emphasized that this new facility is commercial rather than academic. Applied Materials will conduct its development work here, focusing on equipment for chip manufacturing. The wafers produced will not be sold but will be used within the company’s equipment to aid its customers in chip production.
Kunnakkat highlighted the rapid rate of equipment evolution, necessitating continuous development to address evolving customer needs. He stressed that such development will be a key focus at the new facility.
However, Kunnakkat noted that India’s semiconductor hardware ecosystem is still in its infancy. He emphasized the need for a comprehensive support ecosystem, including supply chain management, material handling, logistics, and essential utilities like water and power, to ensure the country’s sustainability and longevity of semiconductor fabs.
He further emphasized the importance of collaboration among ecosystem players to scale up semiconductor manufacturing operations in India, underscoring the necessity of such facilities on a larger scale to meet industry demands. Applied Materials is working closely with the government to facilitate this scaling process.
Regarding operationalizing the company’s engineering center in Bengaluru, Kunnakkat explained, “We have a ten-acre parcel of land where we intend to build it. It is a complicated facility that we’re currently designing. We don’t have people who design that in India yet. We’re bringing expertise from different parts of the globe. That is not going to happen in the next six months.”
Kunnakkat also highlighted the absence of a process engineering mindset and the need for experience installing and commissioning semiconductor tools in India. He mentioned that the company had to bring in individuals from Singapore and Taiwan who specialize in these tasks to work at its India Validation Centre.
