Cabinet approves Rs 4,594 crore for four semiconductor projects in Odisha, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh

The proposed products will have applications in Missiles, Defence equipment, Electric Vehicles (EVs), Railway, Fast Chargers, Data Centre racks, Consumer Appliances, and Solar Power Inverters.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved four more semiconductor projects under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM). Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday announced the approval of four new semiconductor projects with a total investment of Rs 4,594 crore. The projects, to be set up in Odisha, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, include two in Odisha and one each in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

Vaishnaw said the initiatives will focus on compound semiconductors and advanced packaging units, which are key to boosting India’s electronics manufacturing ecosystem. Calling semiconductors a “foundational industry,” he stressed that “without semiconductors, no country can call itself developed.” The new projects are expected to strengthen India’s position in the global chip supply chain and support its goal of technological self-reliance.

The minister said that due to various steps taken by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government, the electronics manufacturing sector has grown six times to Rs 12 lakh crore in the last 11 years. He said that electronics exports have grown by 8 times to Rs 3.3 lakh crore and mobile production has increased by 28 times to Rs 5.5 lakh crore.

Two of the approved projects will come up in Odisha's Info Valley, Bhubaneswar, making the state an emerging hub for the sector. SiCSem Private Limited will set up the country's first commercial compound semiconductor fabrication facility, capable of producing 60,000 wafers annually and packaging 96 million units. The plant's products will cater to applications in electric vehicles, railways, fast chargers, data centres, solar inverters, consumer appliances and missile systems.

The second Odisha project, by 3D Glass Solutions Inc. (3DGS), will establish an advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate facility. It will introduce the world's most advanced semiconductor packaging technology to India, with an annual capacity of 69,600 glass panel substrates, 50 million assembled units and 13,200 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI) modules. The technology will be used in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, defence electronics, radio frequency and photonics applications.

In Andhra Pradesh, Advanced System in Package (ASIP) Technologies, in collaboration with South Korea's APACT Co. Ltd., will set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit with a capacity of 96 million units a year. The plant will serve markets for mobile devices, set-top boxes, automotive electronics and other applications.

The fourth project that was approved by the Union Cabinet is for Continental Device India Ltd. (CDIL) in Mohali, Punjab, it will expand the company's discrete semiconductor manufacturing capacity. The upgraded facility will produce 158.38 million units of high-power devices annually, including MOSFETs, IGBTs, Schottky diodes and transistors in both silicon and silicon carbide. These components are used in EV electronics, renewable energy systems, power conversion, industrial automation and communication infrastructure.

The approvals mark a decisive step in positioning India as a global semiconductor hub. "These projects will accelerate our journey towards Atmanirbhar Bharat in electronics manufacturing and create a talent pool that will serve global industry," the government said in a statement.

The ISM has already attracted major investments and fostered a growing design ecosystem, with 72 startups and 278 academic institutions engaged in semiconductor R&D and training. Over 60,000 students are benefitting from semiconductor talent development programmes across the country.

*With Agency Inputs