Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated ‘SemiconIndia2023’ at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The theme of the conference is ‘Catalysing India’s Semiconductor Ecosystem’. It showcases India’s semiconductor strategy and policy, which envisions making India a global hub for semiconductor design, manufacturing and technology development, officials claimed.
President and chief executive officer of SEMI Ajit Minocha said that for the first time in India’s history, geopolitics, domestic politics and private secret capacities are aligned in India’s favour to become a player in semiconductor production. He said investment by Micron is making history in India and will set the stage for others to follow.
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Executive vice president and chief technology officer of AMD Mark Papermaster, said that AMD will invest approximately $400 million in the next 5 years in India. He said AMD will enhance its R&D capabilities and build the company’s largest design center in Bengaluru.
President, semiconductor product group Applied Materials, Prabu Raja said, “We firmly believe that this is India’s time to shine. No company or country can overcome challenges in the sector alone. It’s time for collaborative partnership in this sector. This new collaborative model can provide us to be a catalyst in the sector.”
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President and chief executive officer of Cadence, Anirudh Devgan said it is really good to see India finally investing into semiconductors. He expressed happiness that the government is investing in the entire ecosystem.
Vedanta Group chairman Anil Aggrawal said that experts feel that Gujarat is the right place for the silicon valley of India. President and CEO of Micron Technology Sanjay Mehrotra expressed pride in the setting up of a semiconductor assembly and test facility for memory in the state of Gujarat and said that this project is going to create nearly 5,000 jobs along with 15,000 additional jobs within the community in the coming years.
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Chairman of Foxconn, Young Liu highlighted the buffalo spirit of the Taiwan Semiconductor Industry, which is the ability to work hard without complaining and said that the same spirit can be applied in India. Liu expressed confidence and optimism in the will and determination of the Indian Government to lead the semiconductor industry.
Addressing the gathering, Prime Minister Modi emphasized that events like Semicon are like software update, where experts and industry leaders meet and share with each other. “It is important for the synchronization of our relationship,” he said, while urging everyone, especially the younger generations to visit the ongoing exhibition and understand the power of the new technology.
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“The world is witnessing the Industry 4.0 revolution today. Industrial revolutions in the past and the American dream had the same relationship,” said the Prime Minister, as he drew an analogy between the Industry 4.0 revolution and Indian aspirations.
Touching up on recent reports, which state that poverty is declining at a very fast rate leading to the emergence of a neo-middle class in the country, he said the tech-friendly nature and the eagerness of the Indian people towards technology adoption are augmenting digital transformation and seamless power supply in the villages. Be it health, agriculture or logistics, India is working towards a vision of smart technology usage,” Modi said.
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He noted that there are people in India who may not have used a basic home appliance but are going to make use of interconnected smart devices. Similarly, the Prime Minister said, a particular student population might not have used a bicycle before, but they are primed to use smart electric bikes today. “The growing neo-middle class of India has become the powerhouse of Indian aspirations”, the Prime Minister said.
Referring to the side effects of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, the Prime Minister said that the world needs a reliable supply chain. “Who can be a more trusted partner than the world’s largest democracy. Investors trust India as it has a stable, responsible and reform-oriented government. The industry has faith in India as infrastructure is developing in every sector,” he added.
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Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel, Union minister for electronics & information technology, Ashwini Vaishnav and Union minister of state for electronics & information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar were also present.
