Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is the only integrated device manufacturing facility in India.
India chip manufacturing: In a significant move to boost the indigenous manufacturing of semiconductor manufacturing, the Narendra Modi government has announced plans to invest Rs 4,500 crore to modernise state-owned chipmaker Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL).
Why Modi govt plans to modernise SCL?
Addressing the press at SCL’s device handling ceremony in Haryana’s Mohali, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the homegrown chipmaking company will be infused with a Rs 4,500 crore investment over the next three years, adding there are plans to expand the facility for which the Centre has requested the Punjab government for a 25-acre parcel of land to support the expansion.
“We need to expand SCL Mohali. We have requested the Punjab government to allocate 25 acres of land. The faster you allocate the land, the faster it will help in the expansion of SCL Mohali,” Vaishnaw said.
“SCL will be modernised with an investment of Rs 4,500 crore over a period of the next three years,” Vaishnaw said, while noting that SCL will play a significant role in realising the vision of PM Narendra Modi for semiconductors and assured that there is no question of privatising the facility.
“Need to boost production by ‘100 times’”
The minister stressed on the need increase production by “100 times” at the SCL, stating that there is need to “bring substantial change in technology”. “We need to take a big jump over decades-old technology that we have here. SCL Mohali will provide a ‘tape out facility’ for startups,” he said.
A “tape out facility” refers to a semiconductor fabrication plant wherein a final chip design is sent to the manufacturing unit after completion of the design phase
Vaishnaw said 300 university students, undergraduate, research fellows are using the world’s latest EDA tools for chip design in the country and SCL will play a significant role in the production of those chips.
EDA tools, or Electronic Design Automation tools, are software used to design electronic systems such as integrated circuits (ICs) and printed circuit boards (PCBs).
What is SCL?
Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), is the only integrated device manufacturing facility in the country providing end-to-end solutions for the development of Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), opto-electronics devices, and Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) devices.
The Mohali-based plant has received a total of 94 designs under the government chips-to-startup program and two designs through its independent collaboration with Dhirubhai Ambani Institute and Vellore Institute of Technology.
Notably, the Rs 4,500 crore investment in SCL is part of the Rs 76,000 crore India Semiconductor Mission fund, and SCL has already floated a tender to select vendors for the plant’s modernisation.
