How India is aiming to acquire IP rights, become leader in semiconductors
The buzz at the recent SemiconIndia 2023 conference was that India’s time on the semiconductor world stage had come
The SemiconIndia 2023 conference in Gandhinagar concluded with Union ministers Rajeev Chandrashekhar and Ashwini Vaishnav reiterating that India will emerge as a leading player in the global semiconductor ecosystem in the next 10 years, not three decades as the countries currently in the lead have taken. Even though it is late to arrive in the chip-making manufacturing stage, the country is now putting forth a well-rounded package to investors and players, with an emerging thrust on developing and owning intellectual property (IP) in a bid to emerge in a leadership position in the development of the next generation of chips.
Meanwhile, to immediately establish India’s presence in the sector, the government is aggressively pushing the setting up of manufacturing (fabrication plants), testing and packaging of semiconductors. In January 2022, the government launched the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, seeking applications from domestic start-ups, specifically for the development and deployment of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor-linked designs for five years. On the sidelines of the SemiconIndia conference, the government announced a collaboration with Arm, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company.
The Arm Flexible Access for Start-ups programme, which gives zero licence fee access to a broad portfolio of verified Arm IP, tools and training, is broadening its qualification criteria as part of this collaboration, to welcome applications from start-ups that qualify under the SemiconIndia futureDESIGN DLI Scheme of MeitY (ministry of electronics and information technology). “India has a large and growing pool of designers in the semiconductor domain. Arm will provide a low cost, low risk opportunity to create innovative designs by young entrepreneurs for import substitution and value addition in the electronics sector,” said E. Magesh, director general of CDAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing), a scientific society operating under MeitY that serves as the nodal agency for implementation of the DLI scheme.
The exhibition featured 25 start-ups that showed their innovations and engaged with industry leaders for commercial application. Five start-ups and MSMEs were earlier approved by MeitY for support under the DLI scheme. These were announced during the second and third DLI Roadshows held earlier this year in Bengaluru (February) and Delhi (May). With this announcement, a total of seven start-ups under the DLI Scheme will be working on making chip and IP cores for automotive, mobility and computing sectors. “Through the Arm Flexible Access programme, we offer the freedom to experiment, innovate and design and develop life-changing technologies in areas from AI (artificial intelligence) to autonomous vehicles and IoT (internet of things),” said Guru Ganesan, president, Arm India.
On the sidelines of the SemiconIndia 2023 conference, Chandrashekhar said that buoyed by the response received for the DLI scheme, MeitY was considering to include domestic and international companies under the incentive scheme if they would like to explore chip design in India as long as it is an Indian IP or co-owned IP. This will enable investment and tie-ups with established players for research and testing capabilities in India, creating highly skilled and specialised high-end job opportunities in the country. Effectively, as the investment bears fruit in about a decade, key electronics products like mobile phones, automobiles, medical appliances and numerous other gadgets are expected to get cheaper.
As part of the Rs 76,000 crore scheme announced for the semiconductor industry in December 2022, a budget of Rs 1,000 crore has been earmarked for DLI.
For perspective, India did start off on the back foot in attracting the semiconductor players to set up units in India. After the first call for applications in December 2021-January 2022 did not attract any substantive interests, the government went back to the drawing board with the feedback it received and relaunched a more enhanced scheme, linked with infrastructure availability. The second window, open till December 2024, has already elicited satisfactory response, with at least five projects commissioned.
“The global semiconductor industry will reach $1 trillion in the next six to seven years. For the first time, India’s domestic policies are strong and favorable for semiconductor manufacturing,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO, Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), at the SemiconIndia conference. According to Prabhu Raja, president of Semiconductors Product Group (SPG), India’s time on the semiconductor world stage had come. “Today’s technology-related challenges are many, so collaboration and innovation are critical,” he said.
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