Tamil Nadu bags IGSS ventures’ Rs 25,000 cr semiconductor park

The state government said on Friday that an “MoU was signed today between IGSS Ventures Pvt Ltd and the Tamil Nadu Guidance Bureau to set up a high-tech semiconductor park…”

The state’s guidance department said it had allocated nine strategic sites, including two sites near Chennai, to house a semiconductor fab.

The fab, it said, will be producing wafers ranging from 28 nanometre (nm), 45 nm and 65 nm, and an industry ecosystem infrastructure that hosts semiconductor circuit designers, material suppliers, equipment suppliers, and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSATs) players.

The state government “accords the highest priority to the development of semiconductor manufacturing in the State. The State is traditionally strong in the automobile and auto components sector and emerging in electronics which have backward linkages with fab, which makes the State an ideal location for a fab unit in India,” said Pooja Kulkarni, managing director and chief executive, guidance department, in a statement.

The Rs 25,600-crore investment would be spread over five years and would create 1,500 jobs.

Discover the stories of your interest

IGSS is a consortium of companies with specialised capabilities in setting up a first-grade semiconductor foundry. The consortium, which will set up a semiconductor fab named Project Suria, is an applicant under the Indian Semiconductor Mission.

“The consortium believes that a differentiation strategy which offers both mainstream and emerging niche technologies with Tier 1 foundry capabilities and cost competitiveness will enable India to become a global leader in selective semiconductor technologies besides offering mainstream solutions in the technology nodes,” founder and group CEO Raj Kumar said in a statement.

Tamil Nadu has become the second state to bag a semiconductor plant.

Karnataka became the first off the block after the ISMC consortium chose a water-abundant site in Mysuru for its factory.

The Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture is still scouting for a location to set up its plant.

In December last year, the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 76,000-crore incentive plan to encourage semiconductor, display manufacturing and fabrication units in India.

The incentives have been planned for silicon semiconductor fabrication, packaging, design, display fabrication, compound semiconductor and silicon photonics manufacturing units.