Surat-based semiconductor manufacturing company, Suchi Semicon, on Wednesday said that it has planned an investment of $100 million over the next three to five years in its Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) plant, which will be inaugurated in November this year.
Spanning an initial area of 30,000 square feet, the upcoming facility in Gujarat’s Surat district will have the capacity to produce up to 3 million chips per day and will feature advanced Class 10,000 and 100,000 cleanroom environments, according to the company.
The company has been approved under the Gujarat state semiconductor policy and has submitted its proposal under the India Semiconductor Mission.
From the start of its operations in November, the facility will be capable of producing 2 lakh pieces a day, said Shetal Mehta, co-founder, Suchi Semicon.
Talking to Business Standard, Mehta said that for now, the company intends to focus on scaling the OSAT facility further and hinted at the possibility of entering semiconductor designing in the future.
“We want to focus on OSAT operations, and since design is India’s strong point, we could get into designing as well if the customer requires it,” he said.
On the possibility of entering semiconductor fabrication, Mehta added, “In fabrication at the moment, I feel there is still time for the ecosystem to develop in India. There are major players coming in; we will let them establish first. For now, we will stick to OSAT and packaging.”
The facility will create up to 1,200 jobs and focus on advanced semiconductor assembly and testing. The firm has collaborated with Gujarat Technological University and Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, to develop a skilled workforce for the sector.
For training the workforce in the required skill set, Suchi Semicon has hired professionals from other countries, Mehta said.
“We have hired professionals from outside India to come to India to develop this technology and train people here. Then we can take it forward from there,” he added.
The company has planned the project in five phases. In the first phase, starting in November this year, it will focus on creating chips that will power legacy devices.
“Legacy devices go into consumer electronics. These are devices that you will see everywhere when you start the day and as you move across. So, this is the starting point. However, in phase two and phase three, we plan to get into power devices and advanced chips,” Mehta explained.
First Published: Aug 21 2024 | 6:44 PM IS