South Korean firm Simmtech signs MoU worth Rs1,250 crore for creating semiconductor ecosystem in Gujarat

Ahmedabad: After US chipmaker Micron and Tata group, South Korean firm Simmtech on Friday announced setting up its plant in Sanand at a cost of Rs1,250 crore as part of creating a semiconductor ecosystem in the state.

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav revealed this during a seminar, part of ongoing Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.

The South Korean firm Simmtech has signed an MoU with the state government to set up its plan close to Micron in Sanand near Ahmedabad city. Vaishnav said that the company deals in manufacturing semiconductor substrates, the supporting material upon which elements of a semiconductor device are fabricated.

"Simmtech is the world's biggest manufacturer of semiconductor substrates. The company has signed an MoU with the Gujarat government to set up a plant close to Micron in Sanand," Vaishnav said while addressing the media at vibrant summit.

He said that the South Korean firm has been allotted 30 acres of land and the work will start in the next two-three months. The company will need 6-7 months to set up the plants. The company has been given subsidy under SPECS (Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) by the centre as well as state government, the minister said during the media briefing.

During a seminar on "Semiconductor & Electronics" on the second day of the summit, Vaishnaw announced that Gujarat is all set to manufacture the country's first make in India chip by 2024 from Sanand.

During the seminar, the minister suggested the Indian Institute of Technology-Gandhinagar to establish a centre of excellence for research and development related semiconductors. He said that the next decade will require a million talents in the industry, which India can provide. He said that the government will put in all resources required to create "an ecosystem for research and development."

The minister also said that an MoU has been signed between Micron and Namtech (New Age Makers Institute of Technology), the education initiative of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel, to develop talents. During the conference, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said that the company has hired about 200 employees, some of them are undergoing training at Malaysia and Mohali SCL (semiconductor lab).

When asked about the announcement by Tata Group setting up a semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Vaishnav said that the project evaluation is underway. He said that the Tata project is much bigger in scale than the Micron.