India’s first compound semiconductor wafer fab gets approval

Recently, the Indian government announced the approval of four new semiconductor projects under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), raising the total number of ISM projects from six to ten. These four projects involve a total investment of about INR 46 billion. Notably, one of them refers to India’s first commercial compound semiconductor wafer fab.

The fab, located in the “Info Valley” of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, is to be built by India’s SiCSem, in collaboration with the UK-based Clas-SiC. The plant will focus on silicon carbide (SiC) wafer and device production, with an annual capacity of 60,000 wafers and 96,000,000 devices. Its products will be applied in electric vehicles, defense equipment, railways, fast-charging stations, and photovoltaic inverters.

Besides, an advanced packaging and glass substrate facility were approved this time, which are also located in the 3D Glass Solutions fab in Odisha, with an investment of INR 19.43 billion. The project will introduce world-leading 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI) technology and glass interposer processes.

Planned annual capacity includes 69,600 glass substrates, 13,200 3DHI modules, and 50,000,000 assembly units, serving high-end sectors such as defense, artificial intelligence, RF communications, and photonic integration.

With this approval, the total number of projects under the ISM framework has increased to 10, with cumulative investment exceeding INR 1.6 trillion (about USD 19.2 billion), spanning semiconductor manufacturing, packaging and testing, and compound semiconductors. The Indian government is providing funding support through the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, aiming to attract international technology partnerships and foster a domestic supply chain.

In the field of wide band-gap semiconductor, India currently imports 90% of its chips. These newly approved projects, focusing on silicon carbide and advanced packaging, aim to reduce dependence on overseas sources and strengthen supply chain resilience.

The construction of India’s first SiC wafer fab is also expected to accelerate the country’s pace in wide band-gap semiconductor manufacturing, boosting its competitiveness in emerging markets like artificial intelligence and 5G communications.

Source: TrendForce, Taiwan.