The government has been in talks with industry heavyweights such as Intel, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and TSMC to apply for the scheme and invest in India
The window for submitting the applications for the Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor design and manufacturing scheme will be extended by the Centre inorder to enable a slew of top global semiconductor majors to also submit their proposals
Minister of state for electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told news publication ET, “There is no deadline as such. Conversations with many global leaders are ongoing and so extending the date is certain.”
“The government understands that this is a very time-intensive decision and made more so due to travel and physical meeting restrictions (due to the pandemic),” he added.
As per the report, the government has been in talks with industry heavyweights such as Intel, Samsung, GlobalFoundries and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to apply for the scheme and invest in India.
These firms have reportedly shown significant interest in reaping the benefits of the scheme and setting up shop in India. The government is aware of the fact that a semiconductor chip-making plant requires cumulative investment of between $3 billion and $5 billion and hence, companies may need more time to submit formal applications given the scale of the commitment.
So far, only a handful of proposals have been submitted under the chip manufacturing incentive scheme, none from the big players.
Applicants were intially given 45 days to submit applications while setting February 15 as the deadline for proposals under the silicon semiconductor fab manufacturing incentive scheme, which forms part of the overall semiconductor policy.
Notably, Vedanta and Foxconn recently announced their partnership to form a joint venture company that will manufacture semiconductors in India.
