India's semiconductor industry plans and status quo: Fabless startups benefit but worry about prospects
Chip manufacturing has been in India for 4 years, starting with the Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL) fab in the early 1980s. However, this is not a success when compared to the industry's rapid global growth. Now, with a new effort, the Indian government wants to transform India's chip manufacturing for the domestic and global markets.
With a big push from the government, Indian companies and investors are very optimistic and serious about their contribution to the industry. But some industry professionals point out that investments in semiconductor fab manufacturing must be made after market research on the potential customer base.
Sankar Reddy, founder and CEO of Terminus Circuits, said in a recent interview that steps such as identifying future customer bases and potential demand for wafers are key to success in investing in this volume-driven manufacturing industry. A well-prepared roadmap comparing investment to break-even points, inflection points, and operational aspects such as uninterruptible power and clean water to maintain equipment is critical.
"Semiconductor factories are driven by technologies that are quickly becoming obsolete, and building a new manufacturing facility and adopting a catch-up strategy will yield minimal results," Reddy said. "The right time to invest is when there are a number of fabless companies that may be closer to hitting the breakeven threshold for a fab, rather than trying to build a fab when our outsourced contract manufacturing volumes are modest but affordable. "
Startups like Terminus Circuits have been instrumental in building an ecosystem for fabless chip companies, they are part of the Indian Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) core start-up group for the Semiconductor Fabless Accelerator Lab ( SFAL) paved the way.
"Soon, we will need to strongly support and accelerate the growth of the number of fabless design companies, which in turn will help maintain and sustain the minimum number of wafers required for a semiconductor fab," Reddy added.
