The Union Cabinet has approved a semiconductor manufacturing unit near Jewar Airport in Noida, Uttar Pradesh. It will be a joint venture of HCL and Foxconn. It will be the 6th semiconductor plant in India and will start production in 2027. The duo will set up a plant near Jewar airport in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). The chip unit will attract investment worth Rs 3,700 crore.

The works on the other five units are currently underway, and one of them is expected to be inaugurated later this year, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters after the Caninet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The unit at Jewar will have a 20,000-wafers-per-month capacity, and the chips 36 million (3.6 crore) per month, the minister said. The other five semiconductors are under construction in Gujarat and Assam.

The chips produced at the Jewar plant will be used in mobile phones, laptops, automobiles, PCs, among others. The semiconductor industry in India is still in a nascent stage, with various local and multinational companies intending to tap its vast potential. Chip shortages during Covid realised the importance of indigenous manufacturing to fill the deficiency, for national security and to galvanise indigenous innovation.

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“Already five semiconductor units are in advanced stages of construction. With this sixth unit, Bharat moves forward in its journey to develop the strategically vital semiconductor industry,” the government said. The semiconductor industry is now shaping up across the country. World-class design facilities have come up in many states across the country. State governments are vigorously pursuing the design firms.”

(With inputs from ANI)