Think small, score big: India details subsidies for chipmakers

India’s government has revealed more details about its plans to become a major chip manufacturing hub . The nation yesterday published a document [PDF] that reveals its government will cover up to 50 to per cent of the set-up cost for manufacturers looking to establish 28-nm or more advanced nodes, up to 40 per cent for 28-nm …

[Jaywalk]

Great Beginning!

I understand Taiwan, China, Malaysia, etc are way ahead. Current 300mm requirement and 40K monthly requirement look meager when compared to these countries. Remember all these current leading countries started the same way, very small. I applaud India for making an attempt to become a chip manufacturing hub. If India is successful in this endeavor, world would welcome it with open arms, because the world needs an alternative!

[pavel.petrman]

One has to wonder

Few years ago it was hard disks (after that flood), now its chips... what will be the next big shortage?

[Steve Todd]

China wafer manufacturing?

There’s an interesting problem that the Chinese have, most of their wafer production depends on equipment made by foreign companies.

The best that Chinese native hardware can manage at the moment is 90nm, and much of their existing capacity is for older 150mm or smaller wafers. American trade restrictions mean they can’t lay their hands on the equipment for advanced nodes. They are claiming to be able to start manufacturing 14 and 28nm chips with their own equipment next year, but in practice they have only demonstrated very small chips at that scale in the lab (this while IBM are demonstrating 2nm chips) and in practice it’s likely to be at least 3-4 years to translate this research into practical hardware and start volume production.

Meanwhile the cost of building an advanced fab is becoming astronomical (from memory it’s circa $10 billion for a 5nm plant at the moment), so the Indian investment isn’t going to get them much in the global scheme of things.

[rcxb1]

Re: China wafer manufacturing?

As with most high technology, if you stay back from the bleeding edge, things are far cheaper. India could get a great deal out of their modest investment.

Fabs cluster around the same areas (see: Chandler, AZ) because of all the suppliers and service providers that spring up around them. Once there is existing industry and infrastructure, the price of entry for other fabs is lower as a result.

The largest tree grows from a tiny seed. Starting small and moving forward slowly is a very cheap way to start building an industry with a minimum of cash, while opening the door for future growth.