How India can get back into the semiconductor business
India’s semiconductor dreams suffered a bad luck incident when the state supported Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL) succumbed to a fire in 1989. Unfortunately, India has lost a lot of time trying to reboot this industry without success till now and now getting back seems and overly daunting task when the world has moved far ahead in terms of technology and it is going to be difficult to jump on the bandwagon again and try to catch up with the world on this crucial industry.
One strategy comes to mind. India already has a huge LED lighting industry which is today at 25000 crores and clocks a healthy 28% growth rate. For this industry the key inputs are imported from China, namely the LEDs and the driver ICs. Both these devices are highly standardized now. The popular LED specifications are two types as listed below. Also listed is the popular IC specification:
a. 2835 package 0.2W 3V LEDs
b. 2835 package 1W 9V LEDs
c. SOP-8, 20W HPF Non-Isolated 600V driver IC
If we can set up one or maybe two plants to handle this demand for India we can have an instant success as the market is consuming these semiconductor devices in large volumes and it is a simple import substitution step.
The LEDs need a chip which can be manufactured here and this is followed by a packaging plant which converts the chip to the usable LED package. This project can even be executed in two parts:
a. Packaging Plant which used imported chips
b. Chip fabrication plant
Even the IC project can be progressed in these two phases. Phase-1 can be realized in 12 months flat and phase two in 24 months, say.
This strategy can give India a straight jump into a successful semiconductor industry and thereafter, or in parallel India can progress its semiconductor industry growth.
Another device which can be added to this low hanging fruit basket could be the image sensor chips and modules used in cameras and sensors and is another popular universal semiconductor building block.
If we follow the suggestions detailed above India can embark on the semiconductor path with confidence and emerge as a major player in one decade.
