Costing $3 billion, India's first fab may officially start within a few months

According to a report by technews citing Indian media Mint, Karnataka officials in India recently stated that if India approves it in time, ISMC Digital’s plan to build a fab in Karnataka, which is expected to cost US$3 billion, may be launched in 2020. Start working in a few months.

In May 2022, there was news that the relevant consortium was preparing to build a fab in India. Among them, Next Orbit Venture Capital Fund and High Tower Semiconductor both decided to invest 3 billion US dollars to build a fab in India, and the products are mainly logic chips produced by 65nm process technology.

It is reported that the monthly production capacity of this Indian fab is expected to be 40,000 pieces. The initial goal is to produce 65nm process technology, which will be upgraded to 40nm process technology in the future, mainly for automotive chips and military chips.

According to reports, once ISMC Digital's fab starts, it will take about four to five years to be put into operation. However, such a timeline would be ahead of the fabs planned by Taiwan's Hon Hai and Indian company Vendanta in India, as well as the $3.2 billion semiconductor park proposed by Singapore's IGSS Ventures in southern India.

In addition, since Gaota Semiconductor has been acquired by Intel for US$5.4 billion in early 2022, this also means that Intel has officially invested in a chip manufacturing plant in India, and Intel may eventually own part of the ISMC fab in Karnataka.