NEW DELHI: Two homegrown firms, including a Tata Group company, along with a US chip design major, have bagged a ₹4,500 crore project to enable India’s sole semiconductor fabrication plant, Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali, to make more modern industrial chips used in critical sectors like power and energy.
On Thursday, Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd, Cyient Semiconductors Pvt. Ltd, and Applied Materials’ Singapore subsidiary were declared winners of three separate parts of the modernization project. The effort will be spearheaded by the Ministry of Electronics and IT and funded through the first tranche of the India Semiconductor Mission. Mint has reviewed a copy of the approved tender.
Tata Semiconductor won the first bid package, which involves augmenting SCL Mohali’s outdated 8-inch complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) wafer fab. The size of a semiconductor wafer determines how efficiently a fab can make chips. To be sure, modern fabs now use 12-inch wafers at more sophisticated chip “nodes” to maximize manufacturing efficiency.
Cyient Semiconductors won the second bid package, which entails supplying patented technologies to make radio-frequency integrated circuits, as well as chips that support imaging and power-management devices.
Modernization of SCL Mohali’s fabrication equipment, including the software for new machines, was awarded to Applied Materials.
The project now awaits formal approval from the Union cabinet before work begins. Overall, SCL Mohali’s modernization efforts are expected to start “in a matter of weeks,” a senior official with direct knowledge of the matter told Mint.
SCL currently makes only 180-nanometre (nm) chips, which are considerably outdated and used mainly in select space, defence and energy applications. Post-modernization, the state-backed fab may move to producing more modern industrial chips in the 28-65 nm range, Mint reported on 28 November. A smaller chip size typically implies more sophistication and greater relevance for contemporary industrial use.
Last week, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw reaffirmed that SCL Mohali’s modernization will not result in its privatization. Established in 1976 and operational since 1984, SCL remains India’s sole semiconductor fabrication plant.
Meanwhile, Tata Electronics, the holding company of Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing Pvt. Ltd, which won the first of the three bids, is building India’s first private chip fab in Dholera, Gujarat.
Vaishnaw added that once upgraded, SCL Mohali will serve as a key fabrication resource for startups in India. He also proposed a consortium comprising the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and SCL to support indigenous chip design and manufacturing.
Mint had reported on 1 July that Tata Semiconductor was among the final bidders for SCL’s modernization project.
Industry stakeholders said the move could be significant for India’s sovereignty goals.
“The modernization efforts will ensure that SCL’s fabrication lines can support industrial chip demand across critical sectors such as power and energy. These are sectors where substituting foreign chip imports is the most critical, and it also gives India geopolitical independence from being heavily reliant on a certain nation,” said Ashok Chandak, president of the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA).
Chandak added that the plant should start operating in its modern avatar within the next two years, once cabinet approval is issued.
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