Tata Electronics Ltd has taken a significant step towards enhancing India’s semiconductor capabilities by initiating the export of semiconductor chips packaged at its Bengaluru-based research and development centre.
As per a report by the Economic Times, these chips, packaged at a pilot line, are being sent to partners in Japan, the US, and Europe. This comes at a time when Tata Electronics’ is doing the groundwork to set up a new chip packaging facility in Assam, along with a $10 billion chip foundry in Gujarat.
An insider revealed that Tata Electronics is currently dispatching packaged chips to customers abroad, with plans for expansion and product diversification.
Some of these products are still in the pilot stage, while others are nearing completion for commercial production, scheduled for 2027. The company is on the verge of successfully designing semiconductor chips in various nanometre ranges, a crucial milestone before manufacturing.
The versatility of the packaged chips allows for their use in multiple products, as they are not specifically tailored for one purpose. Tata Electronics aims to cater to diverse sectors and markets with its semiconductor offerings.
Reports emerged in April suggesting that Tata Electronics may have secured a strategic deal with Tesla to supply semiconductor chips for its global operations, underscoring the company’s growing influence in the semiconductor industry.
These developments signal a promising future for Tata Electronics and India’s semiconductor landscape, as the company expands its reach and capabilities in chip design and manufacturing.
Speaking to the Economic Times, Neil Shah, Vice President at Counterpoint Research, emphasized the importance for the Tata Group to showcase its chip designing and manufacturing capabilities to potential customers and partners well before the commissioning of the fabs in the next 30-36 months.
Shah views this as a significant opportunity for Tata to leverage its extensive expertise and vision in semiconductor design development, particularly through entities like Tata Elxsi, which boasts partnerships with Renesas and Lattice Semi, as well as its in-house Sankhya Labs branch.
Shah stressed the need for Tata Electronics to establish robust front-end processes for co-design, testing, and quality assurance, ensuring seamless production chip tape-outs once the fab is operational. Additionally, he recommended diligent back-end processes, services, and pilots to meet global manufacturing standards, achieve lucrative yield rates, and position Tata Electronics as a comprehensive solution provider for semiconductor design and manufacturing in India.
The Tata Group’s chip foundry in Dholera, a collaboration with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC), is poised for substantial production capacity, with plans for up to 50,000 wafer starts per month. The facility is slated to produce chips in leading nodes such as 28 nm and 40 nm, alongside legacy or mature nodes like 55 nm, 90 nm, and 110 nm.
Earlier reports from March suggested that the Tata-PSMC joint venture intends to prioritize chip manufacturing in these nodes before transitioning to the 22 nm segment, underlining the Tata Group’s strategic roadmap in semiconductor production.
In addition to the Tata Group’s endeavors, several small and medium-scale packaging companies in India, including Tessolve Semiconductor, CDIL, and SCL, are actively involved in semiconductor packaging. However, experts caution that these efforts may not reach the scale of major players like Micron or Tata Group.
Furthermore, the Tata Group is diversifying its semiconductor operations beyond the foundry. It is establishing an outsourced assembly and testing (OSAT) unit in Assam. Semiconductor assembly and testing are crucial steps in the semiconductor value chain, where wafers produced by semiconductor fabs are assembled, tested, and packaged before being integrated into final products.
CG Power is also developing a chip assembly and testing unit in Sanand, Gujarat, expanding the semiconductor infrastructure in the region. Additionally, there are plans for OSAT plants by other entities, such as the HCL Group-Foxconn joint venture and Hiranandani Group’s Tarq Semiconductors, which has partnered with Kaynes Technology. However, these initiatives are pending government approval.
(With inputs from agencies)
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