Surat-based semiconductor manufacturing company Suchi Semicon is expected to generate over $100 million in revenue during the first three years of operations at its Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) plant in Surat, Gujarat.
The facility, set up with an investment of $100 million, was inaugurated on December 15. It already has a customer onboard, with semiconductor production set to begin for this client.
“We have one customer and three potential customers. In the semiconductor world, the process works such that you need to establish a factory first, and then customers follow,” Shetal Mehta, Co-founder of Suchi Semicon, told Moneycontrol. “We are confident we will generate some revenue within this fiscal year.” The company is launching the facility with a pilot line capable of producing 300,000 chips daily.
“Moving forward, we will add more lines and equipment to increase production capacity. Our strategy is to grow the customer base. Once that happens, we aim to scale up the unit’s production within one to three months since the infrastructure is already in place,” Mehta added.
According to Mehta, chips produced during the pilot run are versatile and can be used in verticals such as lighting and consumer electronics.The company has been approved under Gujarat’s semiconductor policy and submitted its proposal under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM).
“We are confident we can secure approval from the IT ministry under the ISM. It’s an ongoing process, with multiple interviews involved. We hope to complete this within the current fiscal year. However, this is beyond our control. While most companies are waiting for government funds to start operations, we decided to invest our funds to ensure we meet the timeline,” he said.
The facility is expected to create up to 1,200 jobs and focus on advanced semiconductor assembly and testing. Suchi Semicon has partnered with Gujarat Technological University and Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, to develop a skilled workforce for the sector.“We already have a team of over 60 people, including expats, and we are hiring regularly. The 1,200 jobs target is part of a five-year plan, which we believe is achievable,” Mehta said.
However, the executive noted that finding people with the right technical expertise is challenging.“To address this, we have started training people in semiconductor manufacturing. This training has been ongoing for the last three months. We are also collaborating with several institutes for workforce training,” he said.
Suchi Semicon believes India’s emerging OSAT ecosystem will create business opportunities for many companies and compete with established global ecosystems in the coming years.
“The raw materials required to manufacture semiconductor devices, especially for OSAT, are not available in India. This impacts competitiveness. However, I foresee many companies stepping in to manufacture these raw materials locally soon. Once that happens, along with a skilled workforce, the system will become dominant and highly competitive,” Mehta stated.
He also noted that many globally renowned equipment vendors are opening offices in India, which he described as a positive sign for the ecosystem.
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