India's Sahasra Semiconductor to begin chips production from September

The first commercial production of Made in India memory chips will start in late September or early October, according to Varun Manwani, the chief executive officer of Sahasra Semiconductor, situated in Rajasthan. This indicates that Sahasra will manufacture chips in India before than Micron. In the Bhiwadi district, the business has established its semiconductor assembly, test, and packaging facility from which it will initially package basic memory items like MicroSD cards, chip-on-board, etc. before progressing to more complex packaging of products like internal memory chips.

Sahasra Semiconductor is eligible for a 25% financial incentive on capital expenditures under the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS). Sahasra is more of an Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) company, which means they build and package chips for other brands as opposed to Micron, which makes its own chips.

"We will launch chip manufacture as the first Indian semiconductor company. The company receives orders from small and medium sized businesses to create chips for them, and is also exploring export potential, Manwani said. "We actually completed some trial production in March, and the commercial production will start somewhere in September and early October.

The company will invest Rs 600 crore over a five- to six-year period in infrastructure development and chip production. Sahasra has so far committed close to Rs 110 crore to the initial stage of chip assembly and packaging. As internal memory is now a standard feature on all smartphones and other electronic gadgets, the chip is now internal. We will probably use that more modern packaging within the next 18 months. Chips would initially be packaged in a rudimentary manner, Manwani continued.

In addition to chip assembly, the business is currently creating its own internal intellectual property, LED driver ICs. Sahasra intends to submit an application for the government to cover 50% of the project costs under the semiconductor incentive programme. "We began building the fab before the semiconductor plan was revealed. In order to apply for the semiconductor incentive programme, we will first use the investments made under the SPECS plan, Manwani said.

Sahasra's supply chain partners include Disco Corp, Kulicke, and Soffa among others. Sahasra obtains tools from nations like Japan, Korea, and Thailand. Due to an increase in local demand, Saharsa is aiming for a Rs 500 crore revenue from the semiconductor market over the next four to five years.