Karnataka CM says, we will replicate our IT/BT success in semiconductor manufacturing

The strong R&D-based technology ecosystem is the reason why many others are also showing interest in Karnataka, Bommai said in a brief chat with ET after pulling off a coup by beating other states in landing the prestigious project. prime minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives to promote chip-making in India, through the semiconductor mission and the generous $10 billion incentive package helped the state in finally clinching the investment, he said.

His government, Bommai said, will replicate the success story the state has scripted in IT services, bio-technology and startups in other tech sectors including semiconductor manufacturing, electronic manufacturing, and IT hardware.

The chief minister and his team of ministers had not spoken a word about the ISMC’s big-ticket deal they were about to close even under tremendous provocation from Tamil Nadu and Telangana whose ministers suggested that investors were turning their back on their southern neighbour.

“Like we pioneered IT, BT and startups in India, we will now pioneer in the semiconductor sector too,” Bommai said.

The government, the chief minister said, was setting up electronic parks at Bengaluru, Mysuru and Hubli-Dharwad as they are focussing big on building electronic manufacturing.

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Industry experts say while Karnataka is the leader in electronic design, it is making efforts to catch up in electronic manufacturing, where it currently makes up only about a tenth of India’s output.

While Basavaraj Bommai presided over India’s first investment in a chip-making plant, it was under his father, the late SR Bommai as Industries Minister in the mid-1980s that US-based Texas Instrument became the first global tech company to open its R&D facility in Bengaluru.