Jingyue Hsiao, DIGITIMES Asia, Taipei
Monday 15 January 2024
Guajrat and Tamil Nadu, the two front-runners of the development of India’s semiconductor ecosystem, held respective events, and won investments from semiconductors.
Tamil Nadu draws investments from Pegatron, VinFast, Qualcomm
The government of Tamil Nadu held a two-day Global Investors Meet event. Peagatron plans to invest INR10 billion to build a second factory in Tamil Nadu, and Tata Electronics is committed to investing INR120.8 billion to assemble handsets. Qualcomm India proposed investing INR1.77 billion to set up a new design center, and VinFast plans to invest US$500 million to set up an integrated facility. Furthermore, Hyundai announced an investment of INR61.8 billion, intending to allocate a portion toward electric vehicle (EV) battery and car manufacturing.
Tamil Nadu introduced semiconductor policy
Tamil Nadu introduced the Tamil Nadu Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Policy 2024, under which semiconductor projects that had won approval and a 50% subsidy under the INR760 billion semiconductor policy offered by India’s central government will be provided with an additional 50% subsidy of the expenditure incurred for the project. Tamil Nadu is the second state to offer semiconductor incentives after Gujarat.
Gujarat won semiconductor and EV investments from Tata and Suzuki
During the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Summit, Tata said its negotiation with the state for a semiconductor fabrication plant is nearing completion. South Korean-based Simmtech will set up a plant near Micron’s ATMP facility. Suzuki plans to establish a second plant and add a new EV production line to its existing facilities in Gujarat.
iPhone production in India may have reached nearly 10% of global value in 2023
According to the Economic Times and IANS, Apple suppliers produced iPhones worth over INR1 trillion (US$12 billion) at factory value in India over the last year, with exported iPhones valued at INR650 billion on freight on board (FOB) value. The production value for made-in-India iPhones is estimated to be between INR1.5-1.7 trillion at market value in 2023, which may account for nearly 10% of global iPhone values.
Indian IC design startup looking to compete with TI and NXP with affordable offerings
Senior executives at India-based IC design startup Mindgrove Technologies told DIGITIMES Asia that they built its first prototype chip and are confident that the chip can provide 60-70% of the features by its global competitors, such as TI, NXP, and Renesas, with only a cost of 30-40% lower.
India to reduce import tax for handset and components
Reuters quoted unnamed officials saying that India is expected to unveil its next annual budget plan for the 2025 fiscal year (April 2024 to March 2025) in early February, when the Finance Ministry of India may propose to reduce customs duty on imported components for handsets, such as camera parts for smartphones.