After US chipmaker Micron and Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn, South Korean firm Simmtech has signed US$150 million (S$200 million) deal to set up a manufacturing plant in India.
Simmtech is among the global key manufacturers of semiconductor substrates, a supporting material on which semiconductor device elements are fabricated.
India's Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw revealed that Simmtech has been allotted 30 acres of land in Gujarat and is expected to begin work in the next two to three months.
The Minister added that the company has been given a subsidy under SPECS (Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) by the centre as well as the state government.
“The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government to set up a plant close to Micron in Sanand,” Vaishnaw said.
He added that the first chip will be produced from the Sanand factory by Micron in December 2024 as per schedule. Micron is the third-largest customer for Simmtech after Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
Vaishnaw also said the semiconductor fab unit proposed by the Tata Group will be much bigger in scale than the Micron plant.
“The project evaluation is under progress and once it is completed the investment figures can be revealed,” he added.
In another separate announcement, Tamil Nadu, the southern state of India has recently unveiled the Semiconductor and Advanced Electronics Policy to nurture investments through incentives, funding and industry-academia collaboration.
The policy offers "eligible" units a capital subsidy by the state government up to 50 per cent of the capital expenditure assistance provided by the Government of India.
It also provides a subsidy of 25 percent of the capex for establishing product testing and prototyping facilities.
