India's Growing Commitment Towards Semiconductor Industry The international collaborations with the US, Japan, Australia and upcoming opportunities with other like-minded countries hold significant importance, says External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar addressing the last day of the three-day SemiconIndia 2023

Emphasizing India's role in critical and emerging technologies and the importance of India's growth in the electronics sector, particularly semiconductors, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar addressed the last day of the three-day SemiconIndia 2023. He stressed on India's growing presence as a trusted global electronics manufacturing partner. "The international collaborations with the US, Japan, Australia and upcoming opportunities with other like-minded countries hold significant importance," he said.

The final day of the three-day SemiconIndia 2023 Conference attracted diverse participation ranging from industry, startups, academia and government.

Addressing the second day of the three-day SemiconIndia 2023, Union Minister of State for Electronics & IT and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, "SemiconIndia Conference 2023 is showcasing India's growing commitment to the semiconductor industry and how India is making rapid strides toward achieving its semiconductor ambitions under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership."

Recently, Foxconn, Taiwan-based Hon Hai Technology Group, pulled out of its joint venture with the Vedanta Group. "In order to explore more diverse development opportunities, according to mutual agreement, Foxconn has determined it will not move forward on the joint venture with Vedanta," the company said in a statement.

Under the $19.5 billion joint venture, the two firms were to jointly invest into a semiconductor fabrication plant in Gujarat, the agreement was signed last September. In May this year, the joint venture was reported to be struggling to tie up with a technology partner. However, Foxconn maintained that it was not breaking away from the Indian semiconductor space entirely and that it still supported the Indian government's domestic chip-making efforts.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister for State for Electronics and IT, tweeted both companies did not have any prior experience in the semiconductor manufacturing sector. "It's not for the government to get into why or how two private companies choose to partner or choose not to, but in simple terms it means both companies can and will now pursue their strategies in India independently, and with appropriate technology partners in Semicon n Electronics (sic)," the minister added.

Deloitte's Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) Predictions report for 2023 has revealed that semiconductor industry in India will reach $55 billion by 2026 with more than 60 per cent of the market being driven by three industries which include smartphones, wearables, automotive components and computing and data storage.

Deloitte predicts that 2023 could act as the pause that refreshes and allows the semi industry to consider five big things that encompasses bringing manufacturing closer to home with new fabs and expanding existing facilities, managing the diversification risks and challenges, digitally transforming and digitizing many parts of the process, addressing and balancing the semiconductor talent equation, establishing and accelerating the path toward achieving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals, particularly around sustainability. "With growing demand, the industry is poised to play an important role in enhancing the global value chain as it will expand to a market size of $85 billion and generate employability for 6,00,000 by 2030," the report added.

The government of India, in December 2021, had launched the India Semiconductor Mission with an incentive outlay of INR 76,000 crore to attract investments in the strategic semiconductor sector.