• India
  • Feb 04

Explainer / India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)

• Semiconductor chips are the essential building blocks of digital and digitised products. From smartphones and cars, through critical applications and infrastructures for healthcare, energy, communications and industrial automation, chips are central to the modern digital economy. 

• Recent global semiconductors shortages forced factory closures in a wide range of sectors from cars to health care devices. In the car sector, for example, production in some European countries decreased by one-third in 2021. This made more evident the extreme global dependency of the semiconductor value chain on a very limited number of actors in a complex geopolitical context. 

India Semiconductor Mission (ISM)

• India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been established as an Independent Business Division under the Digital India Corporation on December 22, 2021. 

• It has been set up to formulate and drive India’s long-term strategies for developing semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem. 

• ISM will implement the schemes for semiconductor and display fabs, compound semiconductor fabs, silicon photonics fabs, MEMS Sensors Fabs and Semiconductor Packaging Units (ATMP/OSAT). 

• The India Semiconductor Mission will be led by global experts in semiconductor and display industry. It will act as the nodal agency for efficient and smooth implementation of the schemes for setting up of semiconductor and display fabs.

• ISM is serving as the nodal agency for efficient, coherent and smooth implementation of the programme for development of semiconductor and manufacturing ecosystem in India, under Semicon India Programme.

Objectives of ISM:

i) Formulate a comprehensive long-term strategy for developing sustainable semiconductors and display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design ecosystem in the country in consultation with the government ministries/departments/ agencies, industry, and academia.

ii) Facilitate the adoption of secure microelectronics and developing trusted semiconductor supply chain, including raw materials, specialty chemicals, gases, and manufacturing equipment.

iii) Enable a multi-fold growth of Indian semiconductor design industry by providing requisite support in the form of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, foundry services and other suitable mechanisms for early-stage startups.

iv) Promote and facilitate indigenous Intellectual Property (IP) generation.

v) Encourage, enable and incentivize Transfer of Technologies (ToT).

vi) Establish suitable mechanisms to harness economies of scale in Indian semiconductor and display industry.

vii) Enable cutting-edge research in semiconductors and display industry including evolutionary and revolutionary technologies through grants, global collaborations and other mechanisms in academia / research institutions, industry, and through establishing Centres of Excellence (CoEs).

viii) Enable collaborations and partnership programs with national and international agencies, industries and institutions for catalysing collaborative research, commercialization and skill development.

Programme with an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore

• The government is very focused on its important objective of building the overall semiconductor ecosystem and ensuring that, it catalyses India’s rapidly expanding electronics manufacturing and innovation ecosystem. 

• It has approved the Semicon India programme with a total outlay of Rs 76,000 crore for the development of semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem in the country. 

• The programme has further been modified in view of the aggressive incentives offered by countries already having an established semiconductor ecosystem and a limited number of companies owning advanced node technologies. 

• The modified programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing and design ecosystem. This will serve to pave the way for India’s growing presence in the global electronics value chains.

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