A series of fab announcements this week signal that India’s plan to become a major player in the global chip industry is at last materializing.

India’s Tata Electronics and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (PSMC) aim to build what would be India’s first 300-mm wafer fab just as other groups announced plans for more chipmaking facilities.

PSMC, the world’s eighth-largest chip foundry, said in a press statement that it will transfer mature technology and train local employees for the $11 billion project based in Dholera, near Mumbai on India’s west coast. PSMC President Martin Chu and Tata Electronics CEO Randhir Thakur signed the agreement in the Indian capital, New Delhi. Thakur previously was president of Intel Foundry.

In a meeting with Powerchip Chairman Frank Huang and President Chu, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered support for the project and other Taiwanese companies seeking to expand in India, according to the press release. Indian Minister of Electronics and Information Ashwini Vaishnaw also met the Powerchip executives and pledged his help.

More fab agreements

The announcement comes as Modi and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed last week to build a separate fab in India that will make chips for national-security applications.

For decades, India has aimed to establish a domestic semiconductor industry. The nation is building momentum with the Tata-PSMC partnership, the U.S. agreement and the world’s first Semicon India industry event, attended by Modi and global chip industry executives earlier this month.

India is potentially a new chipmaking hub ready to take up the slack as the global semiconductor industry reshuffles supply chains amid a competition for tech dominance between the U.S. and China.

U.S-India fab pact

Biden and Modi signed an agreement to build a chip fab in India that will make advanced sensing, communication and power electronics for national security, next-generation telecommunications and green-energy applications, the U.S. White House said in a Sept. 21 statement.

The fab will make infrared, GaN and SiC chips with the support of the India Semiconductor Mission, as well as a partnership between the Bharat Semiconductor Research Center, Indian chip designer 3rdiTech and the U.S. Space Force.

The White House statement did not disclose the investment partners or additional details on the location of the facility. The project will be in North India near the city of Jewar, according to CNBC.

The Tata-PSMC Dholera fab will have a monthly output of 50,000 wafers and is expected to create more than 20,000 high-tech job opportunities in the area, according to Powerchip.

PSMC chairman Huang noted in the meeting with Modi that a semiconductor ecosystem includes thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises. He urged the Indian government to create a business-friendly environment for Taiwanese tech companies in India.

India, by some accounts the world’s largest nation by population, has a huge market and excellent human resources, PSMC noted. The company added that there should be opportunities for partnerships with Taiwan’s chip-design industry, which includes three of the world’s top 10 fabless companies. Taiwan is also home to Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, the world’s largest package-and-test company.

Multinational chip companies have invested in India this year.

In September, Tata Group and Analog Devices announced a strategic alliance to explore a potential manufacturing partnership.

In July, GlobalFoundries acquired the GaN IP portfolio of India’s Tagore Technology, created for power applications in automotive, IoT and AI data centers. With the acquisition, a team of Tagore engineers will join GF.

GF said it plans to continue to invest in India.

Israel’s Tower Semiconductor and Adani Group will invest the equivalent of $10 billion for a chip project in India’s western state of Maharashtra, Reuters reported on Sept. 6.

Last year, Micron announced plans to build an assembly and test facility in Gujarat, India. The facility will package and test DRAM and NAND products destined for domestic and international markets. The facility is scheduled to start production in late 2024.

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