India clears Micron’s semiconductor testing and packaging plan – Business Today
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Sources within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) confirmed to Business Today that Micron Technology’s semiconductor testing and packing unit proposal has got approval from the Indian cabinet. US-headquartered memory chip company intends to set up a testing and packaging plant in Gujarat, India. The news is likely to be officially announced during PM Modi’s visit to the US.
The ATMP (also referred to as OSAT – Out Sourced Assembly & Test) is a key part of the semiconductor ecosystem. After wafers are made at wafer fabs or foundries, ATMP units slice the wafers into chips, package, and test them, so that they can be used in electronic products.
Independent semiconductor analyst Arun Mamphazy said, “At this point, I will just say that something is better than nothing and keep fingers crossed for this to take off & succeed.”
Micron Technology shortlisting India for its testing and packaging unit is looked upon as a good start for India’s dream of becoming a semiconductor nation. While the government hoped to receive applications from leading fabs such as Global Foundries, Intel, TSMC, and Samsung, among others, all it received were semiconductor fab applications from three consortiums, including Vedanta’s.
The first round of applications that opened in January 2022 was open for a limited period of only 45 days, and on June 1 this year, the government reopened the application window for the “Modified Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors/Silicon Photonics/Sensors Fab/Discrete Semiconductors Fab and Semiconductor ATMP/OSAT facilities in India”, which will remain open until December 2024.
Satya Gupta, President – VLSI Society of India had told Business Today, “ATMP is an excellent way to kick start semiconductor manufacturing in India. It is a relatively low investment compared to wafer fabs and the time to put up the factory is shorter. Depending on the complexity of the package type the investments can range from $30-40 million to $300-400 million dollars. Most global experts have suggested that India should first build ATMP units, while the larger wafer manufacturing plants come up. Also, unlike the wafers, the output of ATMP units can be directly consumed by electronics product companies.”
According to a report by Reuters, Micron Technology plans to build a $2.7 billion semiconductor testing and packaging unit, and the government has agreed to production-linked incentives worth 110 billion rupees ($1.34 billion) for the plant.
Following the government’s scheme for semiconductors, Micron Technology was close to finalizing plans for setting up an ATMP – assembly, testing, marking, and packing in July last year. The company was scouting for a location for setting up its testing and packing plant and was considering between Gujrat and Tamil Nadu back then. However, people familiar with the matter confirmed the plans were put on hold due to the US CHIPS ACT which offered huge incentives for semiconductor fabs. And in October 2022, following the US-CHIPS ACT, Micron Technology announced its plans to invest up to $100 Billion to Build Megafab in Central New York. Claimed to be the largest semiconductor fabrication facility in the history of the United States, the Megafab will create nearly 50,000 New York jobs, including approximately 9,000 high-paying Micron jobs the company had said.
Copyright©2024 Living Media India Limited. For reprint rights: Syndications Today
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