Modi woos global semiconductor players with talent, tax incentives pitch | Mint – Mint
Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged the international semiconductor industry to consider investing in India, highlighting the nation’s growing talent pool, reform initiatives, favourable tax regime, and financial incentives.
He said that it was the right time to invest in the country, and assured that the reforms for improving the business environment would go on.
“Last year, the question ppl were asking ay Semicon India was why should they invest in India, but in one year the question has changed to why not invest. The winds have changed and the perception of India has changed,” he said at Semicon India 2023, Thursday.
“This is the right time for India and for the world,” he said.
Industry players assembled at the event including AMD, Foxconn, Micron, Applied Materials, Cadence and Vedanta among others, concurred, with AMD announcing a $400 million investment into India and Micron appreciating the government’s quick efforts to allocate land for building its packaging and testing unit with an investment plan of $825 million.
“AMD will invest $400 million in next five years. AMD will enhance its R&D capabilities, we will build our largest R&D center in Bengaluru,” said Mark Papermaster, EVP and CTO, AMD.
“I can feel the determination of the Indian government. I am very optimistic of the way India will be headed. PM Modi, once mentioned that IT stand for India and Taiwan. Taiwan is and will be your most trusted and reliable partner,” said Young Liu, Chairman, Foxconn, which is one the largest Taiwanese companies that have now made India its next investment destination and has invested billions into creating mobile phone manufacturing facilities. The company is looking at other avenues including electric vehicles and semiconductors.
Modi said India would be best positioned to attract industry at a time when the world was emerging from headwinds and uncertainties.
“You’re emerging from Global pandemic and Russia Ukraine war. The world needs a trusted, reliable chip supply. What can be better than the largest democracy in the world?” Modi said.
Prabhu Raja , President Semiconductor Products Group at Applied Materials said that to develop manufacturing, India is poised to play an important role in global semiconductor industry. “We firmly believe this is India’s time to shine
No company or country can overcome challenges in the sector alone. It’s time for collaborative partnership in this sector. This new collaborative model can provide us to be a catalyst in the sector,” he said.
“For the first time, geopolitics, domestic policies and private sector capacity are aligned in India’s favour to become player in semiconductor production,” said Ajit Manocha, President and CEO, SEMI, the industry body supporting semiconductor makers globally.
“Micron is committed to build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Gujarat. We estimate that our project in Gujarat will create nearly 5000 direct jobs and additional 15,000 jobs in the community. We are hopeful that this investment will help catalyse other investments in the sector,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO, Micron Technology.
The prime minister added that India was a trusted destination amid geo-political tensions. “The world’s trust on India is increasing. Investors trust India because of stable, responsible and reform-oriented government. Semiconductor industry trusts India because we have massive talent pool, skilled engineers and power of designers,” he said.
He added that exponential growth was being seen in digital, electronics manufacturing sector. “Today, our share has risen from 30bn in 2014 and has crossed $100 bn today. In two years, two years electronics exports have more than doubled. From an importer, India is making the best mobile phones and exporting them as well. Before 2014, there were two units, today there are more than 200 mobile manufacturing units,” he added.
Modi noted that there are people in India who may not have used a basic home appliance but are going to make use of interconnected smart devices. Similarly, the Prime Minister said, a particular student population might not have used a bicycle before, but they are primed to use smart electric bikes today. “The growing neo-middle class of India has become the powerhouse of Indian aspirations”, the Prime Minister said. He underlined that the chip-making industry is a market filled with opportunities and expressed confidence that those who begin early are bound to get a first-mover advantage over others.
The Prime Minister said that India understands its global responsibilities and is working on a comprehensive roadmap with friendly countries. That’s why India is building a vibrant semiconductor ecosystem. Recently, the National Quantum Mission was approved. Furthermore, the National Research Foundation Bill is also going to be introduced in Parliament.
Noting the crucial requirement of electricity for this sector, the Prime Minister informed that India’s solar power installed capacity has increased more than 20 times in the last decade and a new target of 500 GW of renewable energy capacity has been set to be achieved by the end of this decade. He also touched upon major steps taken for the production of solar PV modules, green hydrogen and electrolyzers.
He underlined that the policy reforms taking place in India will have a positive impact on the construction of the semiconductor ecosystem. “Several tax exemptions that have come into effect for the new manufacturing industry and highlighted the lowest corporate tax rate in India, faceless and seamless taxation process, abolition of archaic laws, compliances to increase ease of doing business and special incentives for the semiconductor industry,” he said.
Milestone Alert! Livemint tops charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 Click here to know more.
Unlock a world of Benefits! From insightful newsletters to real-time stock tracking, breaking news and a personalized newsfeed – it’s all here, just a click away! Login Now!
Download the Mint app and read premium stories
Log in to our website to save your bookmarks. It’ll just take a moment.
You are just one step away from creating your watchlist!
Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.
Your session has expired, please login again.
You are now subscribed to our newsletters. In case you can’t find any email from our side, please check the spam folder.
This is a subscriber only feature Subscribe Now to get daily updates on WhatsApp
Start Investing in Stocks, Mutual Funds, IPOs, and more
I’m interested in opening a Trading and Demat Account and am comfortable with the online account opening process. I’m open to receiving promotional messages through various channels, including calls, emails & SMS.
Start Investing in Stocks, Mutual Funds, IPOs, and more
Enter OTP
I’m interested in opening a Trading and Demat Account and am comfortable with the online account opening process. I’m open to receiving promotional messages through various channels, including calls, emails & SMS.
The team will get in touch with you shortly