India, US ink pact to set up fab for national security, telecom
Modi and Biden praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through the GlobalFoundries’ Kolkata Power Center.
India and the United States have signed an agreement to set up a semiconductor fabrication plant in India to make chips for use in “national security, next-generation telecommunications and green energy applications,” according to the Indo-US joint fact sheet.
“President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications, and green energy applications,” the fact sheet noted.
The fab, focused on advanced sensing, communication and power electronics, will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force, the statement said, according to a report in the Indian Express.
“It will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors,” it added.
Infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors fall under the category known as compound semiconductors. India’s current annual imports bill for these semiconductors for national security is USD 1 billion.
The two leaders also praised combined efforts to facilitate resilient, secure, and sustainable semiconductor supply chains including through GlobalFoundries’ (GF) creation of the GF Kolkata Power Center in the eastern state of West Bengal.
The two leaders noted GlobalFoundries (GF’s) plans to explore longer term, cross-border manufacturing and technology partnerships with India which will deliver high-quality jobs in both the countries. They also celebrated the new strategic partnership between the US Department of State and the India Semiconductor Mission, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in connection with the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund.
Biden and Modi also highlighted additional cooperation on building across AI, quantum and other critical technology areas.
