India wants to be a global chip powerhouse in 5 years

. Ashwini Vaishnaw, India’s minister of electronics and information technology, railroads, and communications, stated that the country aims to be one of the top five semiconductor producers in the world over the next five years.

The semiconductor sector “is a very complex market, and global value chains and global supply chains are extremely complex in the current context,” Vaishnaw said on CNBC’s Street Signs Asia on Friday. “We think in the next five years, we would be among the top five semiconductor nations in the world.”

According to market intelligence firm TrendForce, Taiwan accounted for approximately 46% of worldwide semiconductor foundry capacity in December, followed by China (26%), South Korea (12%), the United States (6%), and Japan (2%).

India will profit as more corporations seek to minimize their dependency on China, since US-China tensions show no indications of abating soon.

He stated that India sees itself as a “trusted value chain partner” for electronic device manufacturers, industrial and defense electronics, power electronics, and “practically every electronics manufacturer, which requires semiconductors to be designed… and manufactured.”

“Some individuals refer to it as ‘friendshoring.’ “I call it ‘trust shoring’ because there is global trust in India,” Vaishnaw explained.

Qualcomm has opened a new design facility in Chennai. The center will concentrate on wireless technology design, creating 1,600 jobs in the country.

“We started investing in India before it became trendy. Qualcomm’s CEO told CNBC affiliate CNBC TV-18, “We’ve been building a presence in India for over a decade.” “A lot of our chips are designed in India, and that presence in India is also creating opportunities for a number of Indian companies.”

Last Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened three semiconductor facilities. One of these facilities is a collaboration between Tata Electronics and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. PSMC Chairman Frank Huang told the Economic Times that the goal is to develop India’s first semiconductor chip by 2026.

“Made in India chips manufactured in India will help create a strong and significant presence for India in global value chains—it will make India a semicon hub for the world,” Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated in a press release.

Vaishnaw appeared unconcerned when asked about investors’ concerns that India is still lagging behind in chip manufacturing and has a long way to catch up.

The minister anticipated that the worldwide semiconductor industry would be worth a trillion dollars in the next seven years. due to a big skill pool and the country’s emphasis on increasing its manufacturing capabilities.

“To keep up with this rate of growth, about a million more semiconductor engineers will be needed. Where’s the talent pool? Where is the ecosystem that can handle this level of complexity? “It exists in India,” he claimed.

“This is absolutely the right time to be in the semiconductor industry and we’ve very rapidly gained the confidence of the entire global industry,” he said.

In November, Apple supplier Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry) revealed plans to invest over $1.5 billion in India for “operational needs.”

“Globally, all companies look at India as a natural destination for their next investment decision,” Vaishnaw said, confirming recent claims that the government is examining semiconductor offers worth $21 billion.