Israeli’s Tower Semiconductor has submitted a proposal to the Indian government to build an $8-billion chipmaking facility in the South Asian nation, according to a report by the Indian Express on Sunday, which said Tower is seeking state incentives (of possibly up to 50%) for its plan for a plant that would make 65 nanometre and 40 nanometre chips “which may be used in a number of sectors, including automotive and wearable electronics”.
Chip manufacturing has been a target of the Modi government’s business agenda, but initial bids to offer $10 billion in incentives to the industry have floundered, as some proposals have stalled or been cancelled.
In May 2022, Tower proposed investing nearly $3 billion in a manufacturing plant in Karnataka, but the deal was complicated by a bid by Intel to takeover Tower, but that plan did not eventuate because Intel failed to get regulatory approval from China for the merger.
Tower’s interest in setting up a fab in India remained, however, with the Israeli group discussing chipmaking moves with Reliance last year and its CEO Russel Ellwanger also meeting Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar last October “to discuss a partnership with India in the chip space”.
Read the full report: Indian Express.
- Jim Pollard, with Reuters
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