Under a transformative collaboration with the US, India will get its first-ever national security semiconductor fabrication plant in Kolkata that will produce chips for use in military hardware in both the countries as well as in critical telecommunication networks and electronics.
The ambitious India-US joint project was announced following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden in Wilmington on Saturday.
PM Modi and Biden praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through GlobalFoundries’ (GF) creation of the GF Kolkata Power Centre in Kolkata.
The latest development has entered the political circles in India where a credit war over the ambitious project has begun.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lauded the announcement and assured all support for the emerging investment.
Banerjee, however, added that the declaration regarding the setting up of a Global Capability Centre in the state has a history of relentless promotion by the West Bengal government.
“I am fortunate enough to share with you all the contribution of our West Bengal government in the historic international investment decision for Kolkata, as kindly announced by Hon’ble President of the USA with our Hon’ble PM Modi yesterday,” Banerjee wrote on X.
“The background story of our long and arduous exercises which lie behind the great news about a major American investment in our State in the semiconductor sector is truly worth sharing. Since early last year, the State IT Dept. and our PSU Webel approached leading semiconductor industries as many chip-designing & packaging StartUps had relocated to various Webel IT Parks after the Covid pandemic,” Banerjee shared, highlighting the role of her government in the state.
Banerjee also pointed out that GlobalFoundries, Synopsis, Micron and a few other leading international semiconductor companies held a number of technology symposiums in West Bengal.
“They visited our units and offices to discuss emerging technologies & investment potential. This year, the State Govt.-sponsored Global VLSI Conference 2024, held in Kolkata, witnessed participation of all leading giants from the Semiconductor industries.”
“Hence, continuous deliberations coupled with successful promotion of the State’s capacity have thus led to Global Foundries’ recent proposal to set up a Global Capability Centre in Kolkata. I assure all support to the emerging investment in this frontier sector. Let West Bengal be the true destination for knowledge-based Industries.”
BJP Says West Bengal Can’t Afford To Lose
Amit Malviya, the In-charge of BJP’s National IT Dept and co-incharge of West Bengal took to X and said, “We hope Mamata Banerjee doesn’t ruin this opportunity, like everything else she has touched.”
Malviya added that “Mamata Banerjee must ensure that the project is not held hostage to the extortionists in her Govt and party. West Bengal can’t afford to lose, again.”
The two leaders hailed the first-ever India-US semiconductor fabrication partnership as a “watershed arrangement”, according to a joint fact sheet on Modi-Biden talks.
GF Kolkata Power Centre in Kolkata
The project will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission and will be part of a strategic technology partnership among Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force.
It will not only become India’s first, but one of the world’s first multi-material fab for national security, people aware of the matter said.
It is the first time that the US military has agreed to do a partnership for these high-value technologies with India and it is a watershed moment as it is as significant as the civil nuclear deal, they said.
“President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications, and green energy applications,” the fact sheet noted.
It said the “fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India semiconductor mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force”.
The Fab, to be known as ‘Shakti’, will focus on three essential pillars for modern war fighting — advanced sensing, advanced communications and high voltage power electronics, the people cited above said.
At a media briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri described the initiative as “an enormously encouraging development”, adding that “national security elements” are involved on both sides.
There will be applications of the products in national security areas, he said.
Explaining the significance of the project, he said: “This is a different Fab in the sense that this has been established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors.” “And it will be supported by the Indian Semiconductor Mission as well as the Strategic Technology Partnership. I think what this represents is, first, the increasing and very substantial design as well as manufacturing capacities that are latent in India’s semiconductor sector,” he said.
The project will go down in history books as a watershed moment in the India-US relationship, said one of the people on condition of anonymity.
India’s current import bill for these semiconductors for national security is USD one billion a year, according to estimates.
The fact sheet said the project will enhance mutually beneficial linkages in research and development in chip manufacturing.
“The leaders welcomed steps our industry is taking to build safe, secure, and resilient supply chains for US, Indian, and international automotive markets, including through Ford Motor Company’s submission of a Letter of Intent to utilise its Chennai plant to manufacture for export to global markets,” the document said.
It said Modi and Biden commended ongoing efforts to build more expansive cooperation around 5G deployment and next-generation telecommunications.
This includes the US Agency for International Development’s plans to expand the Asia Open RAN Academy with an initial USD 7 million investment to grow this workforce training initiative worldwide, including in South Asia with Indian institutions.
Comments
0 comment