India should design and manufacture chips for everyday products: Vaishnaw

India wants its semiconductor capabilities to reach everyday products such as cars, televisions and refrigerators, as well as critical power infrastructure in the coming years, Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said, outlining the sheer breadth of chip-making prowess the country aims to build going forward.

The minister's vision comes as India steps up efforts to establish a larger presence in the global semiconductor value chain, with the government seeking to move beyond chip assembly and testing, and build capabilities spanning design, fabrication, equipment and materials. Under the second phase of the semiconductor programme, the government has committed Rs 1.27 lakh crore to expand the domestic ecosystem and attract global investments.

The government recently said it received about Rs 1 lakh crore in investor interest under the second phase of the semiconductor scheme, and this week saw a slew of big-ticket announcements, including Applied Materials' $5-billion India plan through 2035, Lam Research's proposed Rs 10,000-crore investment, Tata Electronics' 363-acre vendor park at Dholera and Fujifilm's Rs 800-crore semiconductor materials plant.

In an interview to PTI, Vaishnaw said India should be designing and manufacturing chips for cars, power systems, televisions, refrigerators and other appliances within the next five years.

"There are many chips which go in automobiles, in cars, scooters and motorcycles, that are manufactured in our country. We should be able to have many of those chips designed and manufactured in India," Vaishnaw said.

The minister said a similar capability should be developed in the power sector, including chips used in transmission lines, transformers and converters.

"There are many chips which go into power sector, for example, the transmission lines, the transformers and the converters. We should be able to manufacture many of those chips, which are designed and made in India," he said.

In the consumer electronics space, Vaishnaw said, many of the chips used in televisions, refrigerators and other household appliances should also be designed and manufactured in India.

"...we don't really see the chip; we see the finished product. When we buy a TV, we don't see the chip inside it, but it is the chip which is driving the entire thing," he said, describing the semiconductor as the "brain" and "heart" of a television.

"So once we move in that direction, it will be very good," he added.

Vaishnaw cited a display-control module plant coming up in Uttar Pradesh as an example of the capabilities India is seeking to build. The module controls how a television displays the final picture and will be manufactured in the country, he said.

"The display control module is the one which controls how the TV displays the final picture; that is the heart and the brain of the television. So, that is going to be manufactured in India...so many such products are there," he said.

The minister also pointed to the planned LED display fabrication facility by Crystal Matrix, saying the company has gone down to a complex level of 40 microns, from 90 microns, and is setting up a research and development facility in India.

"All those large screens, LED screens, will be manufactured and designed in India," he said, adding that many such products would increasingly be designed and manufactured domestically.