This Indian manufacturer has become the first company to produce memory chips in India, even before Micron. Rajasthan-based Sahasra Semiconductors has started production at its semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in Bhiwadi district this month and made its first shipment to e-commerce platforms.
“We have truly become the first company to sell made-in-India micro SD cards and the response we have received on e-commerce platforms has been phenomenal,” Amrit Manwani, MD, Sahasra Group told ET.
The Bhiwadi unit is expected to ramp up to 30% capacity by end of this year and realise the full potential in the next phase ramp up in early 2024, he said. In the second phase, the company shall start advanced packaging of products like internal memory chips.
Sahasra has been approved under two production-linked incentive (PLI) schemes- the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) and the PLI scheme for components and sub-assemblies of white goods.
Under SPECS, the chip producer is eligible for receiving 25% capital expenditure of setting-up or expanding their manufacturing facility, while incentives under PLI will be production based.
Besides baby steps by Sahasra, the government’s mega win in building the semiconductor ecosystem has been US-based Micron’s investment of USD 825 million in setting up a new assembly and test facility in Gujarat.
The global chipmaker is expecting to start manufacturing DRAM and NAND products in the India facility for domestic and global demand starting late 2024.
The Central government, in turn, is incentivising the project with a fiscal support of half the entire project cost coupled with 20% support from the Gujarat State Government.
In terms of developing semiconductor design capabilities, technology major recently launched the latest edition of Tensor chips designed in India powering the Google Pixel smartphones.
Applied Materials had also committed USD 400 million over four years to build a new engineering center in Bengaluru.
AMD announced an investment of USD 400 million over five years to expand to serve as the company’s largest design centre in the world.
Home-bred Vedanta also announced an overall outlay of USD 20 billion for setting up semiconductor, integrated glass, and display fabs in India.
