India’s semiconductor mission paves way for digital sovereignty: Experts

NEW DELHI: India’s semiconductor mission paves way for digital sovereignty and will take the country towards self-sufficiency in chips that have use in a wide array of applications, including CCTV cameras, mobile networks, satellites, cars, and smart devices, experts have said.

They said that the central government’s initiative lays the groundwork for India to become self-reliant across the entire digital technology stack — from chip manufacturing to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cloud applications. All mission-critical digital infrastructure, whether related to artificial intelligence or cloud computing — fundamentally depends on semiconductor chips.

“When you are talking about a completely digital sovereignty, it starts at the chip level. Whether it is a complete AI stack or a complete cloud stack on which any mission-critical applications of government or enterprises run, it always starts from the ground level, which is the chip. From chip level, we end up making equipment,” Sunil Gupta, Chair, ASSOCHAM National Council on Datacenter, told on the sidelines of an event ‘Sovereign Tech for India’s Digital Transformation’. The event was organised by ASSOCHAM.

“Chips form the base, leading to the development of equipment, operating systems, datasets, models, and ultimately, applications. You start making operating systems, then you run in case of AI examples. You have data sets and then you have models and then you have applications. The government understands this whole stack, which needs to be completely owned by India. At the chip level, India has created a semiconductor mission so that India can design, fabricate, assemble and package its own chips in India itself,” Gupta said.

The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) is aimed at ensuring full ownership of this stack. The mission aims to enable domestic capabilities in chip design, fabrication, assembly, and packaging.

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“The semiconductor mission and the government’s emphasis on it is a step in the very right direction. It is at the route of becoming a sovereign nation in terms of digital infrastructure,” Gupta said.

“Starting has been done maybe with chips of 28 nanometers, but I am very sure once this mission starts, we will start manufacturing the most high-end two and three-nanometre chips also. As the Minister of IT also announced that within five years India can also expect its indigenous GPU, which is real sovereignty at the grassroots level…that you are not dependent on a chip which is designed in the US and manufactured in Taiwan. India will be able to design and manufacture chips in India itself,” he added.

Gupta also spoke about India’s efforts to widen its sources of rare earth metals amid export curbs by China.

“Prime Minister visited countries in Latin America and Africa recently…. India will have to be self-dependent on rare earth metals as these are used in manufacturing electronics products. This is another aspect on which the government is very serious about,” he added.

Dipali Pillai, founding member of Bharath Cloud, emphasised the significance of Digital India.

“It is an economic and security story and having everything in house is very important. Having everything on our own soil and working on our own terms is extremely important for us to grow and innovate. India is focused in the area,” she said.

The Programme for Development of Semiconductors and Display Manufacturing Ecosystem in India was notified in December 2021 with a total outlay of Rs. 76,000 crore.

The Union Cabinet had in May this year approved establishment of one more semiconductor unit under India Semiconductor Mission.

Five semiconductor units are in advanced stages of construction. The unit approved in Uttar Pradesh is a joint venture of HCL and Foxconn. This plant will manufacture display driver chips for mobile phones, laptops, automobiles, PCs, and myriad of other devices that have display.

The plant is designed for 20,000 wafers per month. The design output capacity is 36 million units per month.

Students and entrepreneurs in 270 academic institutions and 70 startups are working on world class latest design technologies for developing new products. Twenty products developed by the students of these academic students have been taped out by SCL Mohali. (ANI)