Entire value chain of electronics will soon be in India: PM

INdia is edifice a nail electronics note value ernst boris chain that serves as the roadmap to Viksit Bharat and the next stage of Make in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday as he inaugurated the CG Semi Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility in Gujarat’s Sanand.Addressing the event, the PM recalled trying to establish a semiconductor plant more than two decades ago as Gujarat’s chief minister, noting that the project stalled because the Union government at the time failed to advance the proposal.“Twenty years ago, perhaps even more than that, I made all the plans to set up a semiconductor plant in Gujarat, finalised 350 acres of land near Gandhinagar and Prantij, and even held talks with some companies,” he said, adding that the effort stalled despite initial interest from industry.“The government of India was making big statements at that time, so some companies did come forward for discussions. But somehow, I don’t know what happened to the Government of India then. Their feet got tied in shackles, and the matter did not move forward. Today, when I look at that 20-22-year-old dream… it could not happen then…but today, when it is happening, I am experiencing the greatest happiness within me,” he added.He added that the plant had moved into commercial production capable of delivering 20 crore units annually, with a target of scaling up to 500 crore units a year. “I congratulate the entire team, the state government, and the whole country for building this step by step, brick by brick, and chip by chip.”Hailing Sanand as an emerging manufacturing hub rather than an isolated facility, Modi compared its growth trajectory to global designated clusters like the United States’ Silicon Valley, Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park, and Japan’s Tsukuba Science City.“Within just a few months, Micron, Kaynes and CG Semi have started production here. This means a semiconductor cluster is being born in the country. Today chip packaging is happening here. Tomorrow, specialised companies will come here, chemical production will take place, new testing labs will be built, industries providing machine servicing will arrive, design centres will open, and then new startups will also emerge from here,” he said.CG Semi Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of CG Power and Industrial Solutions Limited, established the ₹7,600-crore facility in a joint venture with Japan’s Renesas Electronics and Thailand’s Stars Microelectronics.Describing the economic impact of such clusters, he said, “One industry gives birth to hundreds of industries. Hundreds of industries create lakhs of jobs, and these lakhs of jobs transform the economy of the entire region.”He said this was not confined to Sanand alone, and that similar semiconductor clusters were coming up in several other states across the country.Modi said India’s semiconductor push was the result of a decade of expansion in electronics manufacturing and not an isolated development. “This is the next step of the electronics revolution that has come to India over the past decade,” he said.Talking about the country’s electronics manufacturing journey, Modi said India had moved from importing mobile phones to becoming a global manufacturing hub. “There was a time when India used to import most of its smartphones from abroad. Mobile phone production in India has increased by 33% compared to before… Today India is the world’s second largest mobile manufacturer and the second largest mobile exporter,” he said.He said electronics production had increased seven times since 2014 and electronics exports had risen nearly eleven times.He said the government’s effort was not limited to self-reliance in the final product but also extended to component manufacturing, and that India’s next step was to move towards manufacturing the chips that power the entire world of electronics, rather than mobiles or electronics alone. “We will not just make mobiles, we will not just make electronics — we will manufacture the chips that run the entire world of electronics,” he said.Outlining the government’s strategy, he said, “First products, then components, and now semiconductors, meaning the entire value chain of electronics will be in India. This is the roadmap of Viksit Bharat. This is the next stage of Make in India.”He said the next phase would focus on achieving self-reliance in critical minerals and high-tech materials needed for semiconductor manufacturing, and that the government’s aim was to build a complete semiconductor ecosystem in the country, from chip design to fabrication and packaging.The Prime Minister concluded by stating that the semiconductor and AI sectors will mirror the historic IT boom in generating high-value jobs for India’s youth. He specifically highlighted the presence of young women from local tribal communities at the Sanand plant, who received technical training in Malaysia before joining the “Made in India” chip-making workforce.OPPN REACTION