New Delhi:
US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the landmark deal to set up a semiconductor foundry focused on advanced sensing, communications and power electronics for national security, next-generation communications and green energy applications.
The factory (or fab), which will be built for the manufacturing of infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, is being made possible with the support of the India Semiconductor Mission and a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech and the US Space Force.
In a historic moment, a technology partnership between Indian company Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech and the US Space Force announced India’s first national security fab – the first collaboration of its kind between Indian and US semiconductor factories.
This is the first time that the U.S. military has agreed to a technical partnership with India on these highly valuable technologies, marking a turning point as significant as the civil nuclear agreement.
The factory will not only be the first in India but also one of the first multi-material factories for national security in the world. Named Shakti, the Bharat Semi factory is also one of the first of its kind in the Quad. The factory will focus on three pillars essential to modern warfare: advanced sensing, advanced communications, and high-voltage power electronics.
These three areas are experiencing high demand in commercial sectors such as railways, communication infrastructure, data centers, green energy, etc. These semiconductors belong to a group known as “compound semiconductors.”
Three major technology areas
The three main technology areas will be infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide. This is part of PM Modi’s vision for India to move from being a chip-recipient country to a chip-maker. The factory will be a national asset and further India’s goal of becoming a net security provider in the region.
For a country to become a net security provider, it needs to become a net technology provider. This is the glass ceiling that has been broken in tech diplomacy and in a few years time, will go down in history as a watershed moment in India-US relations.
India’s current semiconductor imports are $1 billion per year for national security alone. India and the US have multiple cooperation agreements in place, from iCET to commerce memorandums of understanding to strategic trade dialogues, focusing on critical technologies with a special focus on semiconductors.
This will be the first true India-US semiconductor manufacturing project. Previous projects have involved OSAT testing and assembly. But this one raises the bar and steps into true chip manufacturing, the holy grail of semiconductors.
This technology partnership will put India in the company of an elite few nations with the capability and know-how to manufacture such semiconductors domestically.
Bharat Semi and 3rdiTech are a true success story of iCET and of PM Modi’s Atmnanirbhar vision, from the launch of iCET in January 2023 to building India’s first integrated semiconductor fab for national security.
This means history is being made with Bharat Semi and 3rdiTech emerging as national champions and India’s first truly indigenous semiconductor integrated design and manufacturing company (IDM).
