India Understands Its Global Responsibilities, Building Vibrant Semiconductor Ecosystem

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India understands its global responsibilities and we are building a vibrant semiconductor ecosystem while working on a comprehensive roadmap with friendly countries.

Inaugurating SemiconIndia 2023 at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, Prime Minister said, “It is estimated that in the next five years, more than one lakh design engineers are going to be produced in our country. India's growing start-up ecosystem is also going to strengthen the semiconductor sector.”

The theme of the Conference is ‘Catalysing India’s Semiconductor Ecosystem’. It showcases India’s semiconductor strategy and policy which envisions making India a global hub for semiconductor design, manufacturing and technology development.

Referring to Moore’s Law with exponential growth at its heart, he said that we are witnessing the same exponential growth in India’s digital and electronic manufacturing sector.

He informed that India's share in global electronic manufacturing has increased manifold. In 2014 India’s electronic manufacturing was less than 30 billion dollars, which has crossed 100 billion dollars today. The export of electronics and mobile devices has doubled in the last 2 years.

Meanwhile, Industry leaders expressed their views on the occasion. Anil Aggrawal, Chairman, Vedanta Group said that experts feel that Gujarat is the right place for the silicon valley of India. He highlighted the Prime Minister’s vision of creating new opportunities for the youth of India.

“We have seen how India has transformed in the last decade and aspirations of young Indians are really high,” he added.

President and CEO SEMI Ajit Minocha said that for the first time in India’s history, geopolitics, domestic politics and private secret capacities are aligned in India’s favour to become a player in semiconductor production.

Dr Prabu Raja, President Semiconductor Product Group Applied Materials said that with the strong vision of Prime Minister Modi, India is poised to play a central role in the global semiconductor industry.

Anirudh Devgan, President and CEO Cadence said it is really good to see India finally investing into semiconductors.

Young Liu, Chairman of Foxconn highlighted the buffalo spirit of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry, which is the ability to work hard without complaining and said that the same spirit can be applied in India.

Referring to the high ‘say-do’ ratio of the Indian Government, Liu underlined the importance of trust and working together to overcome the challenges just like Taiwan did many years ago. Liu expressed confidence and optimism in the will and determination of the Indian Government to lead the semiconductor industry.

“IT stands for India and Taiwan”, Liu said quoting the Prime Minister and assured that Taiwan will be India’s most trusted and reliable partner in the semiconductor industry.

Giving the analogy of a conductor and insulator where energy can pass through conductors and not through insulators, the Prime Minister said that India is ticking every checkbox to become a good energy conductor for the semiconductor industry.