The business of chip making is extremely important and a multi-billion dollar global game. In this important industry, dominance has so far been limited to only a few geographic locations.
But if you think that India’s entry into the global market under ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ will change the equation in a few years and it will compete with those bullies, then such expectations may disappoint you.
First of all, it should be understood that design techniques play an important role in this dominance game. Yes, there are some indigenous companies in the business, which are in the start-up stage and making chips, maybe not for your iPhone or laptop. One such company was from Bengaluru, which was recently acquired by Tata.
So, why don’t we just start with the design? It is not that India There is no design talent pool. Global leaders have acknowledged that Indian design engineers are very skilled and capable. But, at the moment, they are mostly working for foreign companies as there is already a developed chip-making ecosystem.
Second, the game in which countries such as the US, China and Taiwan are competing is not in the making of older generation chips. They are in the race to make advanced microchips and some argue that India is not even close to the starting line. It’s probably because we’re years behind the start of this whole game in the 1950s, when American engineers first invented a semiconductor chip with four transistors.
Additionally, we have started talking about chip making once again, after the disastrous fire incident at the 100% state-owned Semiconductor Complex Limited, which started production in 1984, crushed the indigenous dream. However, the incident of mysterious fire needs to be discussed separately.
From the point of view of current technology, what must be understood is that transistors provide chips with their functionality and the current state of the art is 3 nanometers. Why size matters is because the smaller the transistors, the more can fit on the chip, which means more computing power. Similarly, the smaller the size, the lower the power consumption.
Here’s what we need to take a look at what former Intel CEO Gordon Moore said. Known as Moore’s Law: the number of transistors on a microchip doubles every two years.
So, with Moore’s Law, semiconductor companies now know that they have a predictable window of time, roughly two years, in which to develop the next generation capability almost certainly before their competitors. This means they either have to keep up or risk being left behind.
However, the production of such state-of-the-art chips has become so expensive and complex that it is difficult to maintain. As a result, the number of manufacturers at the forefront of the industry has dwindled from more than 25 in 2000 to three – TSMC (Taiwan), Samsung (South Korea) and Intel (US).
Only a few companies are making such leading-edge chips because building such a factory requires billions of dollars and the plant needs to run 24/7 to produce hundreds of millions of devices per year, ensuring While doing that they are being sold at cost. a premium price. If this does not happen then the companies will suffer losses.
Keeping this factor in mind, one side of the aisle says, if India really wants to indigenize the manufacturing process, it needs an uninterrupted power supply, reliable electricity, quality engineers who can be retrained and designed The case required years of research and development.
Also, it has been said that there is a need to eliminate the import of materials along with ATMP (Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging) to achieve a complete self-sufficient semiconductor ecosystem.
However, China also wants to be self-sufficient in the technology that powers supercomputers as powerful as a toaster, and the CCP government is giving it the same importance to the Made in China 2024 initiative as it did to the atomic bomb. But still, they can’t keep up with the US and Taiwan when it comes to state-of-the-art chips due to innovation and R&D lag.
Industry believes that Aatmanirbhar is not a myth in the case of India, but we have to stop thinking that we will beat the big sharks in a few years. Rather, it is said that India is starting from scratch, starting with the design and manufacturing of older generations of chips to form the basis of an indigenous ecosystem at a time when the government is trying to encourage more people. is doing her job for
Once the base is ready, such Made in India chips are used in many other electronic products, we can look at working on indigenous advanced logic chips, which are much more complex and expensive than computers. And impart their intelligence to the smartphone.
Also, people expect this to be India’s second Maruti Suzuki moment – with the Japanese company starting manufacturing in the country and Tata soon coming up with India’s first indigenously designed and manufactured car. Now, India has several indigenous automakers and has overtaken Japan to become the third largest auto market globally.
In the case of semiconductors, full self-sufficiency may take 10 years or more but the opportunity to develop an indigenous ecosystem with global companies is expected to come on Indian soil. With this more people will know about the technology and in the coming years the government’s chip schemes will help them to compete globally.
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