Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Sep 16, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Sep 16, 2005 |
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Info-Tech
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Electronics Chip fabrication unit on the horizon — Consortium interested, says Maran Our Bureau
Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Mr Sam Varghese (left), CEO, SPEL Semiconductor Ltd, and Mr Ar.Rm. Arun (extreme right), Vice-Chairman, at the inauguration of the company's lead-free plating process at Maraimalai Nagar near Chennai on Thursday. — Bijoy Ghosh
Chennai , Sept. 15 A CONSORTIUM of Indian equipment manufacturing companies along with Allied Material, a US-based equipment manufacturer, has evinced interest in setting up a plant in India for semiconductor wafer fabrication, according to Mr Dayanidhi Maran, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology. Semiconductor wafer is mostly made out of silicon. Integrated circuit (IC) chips are diced out of semiconductor wafer, and they find wide application in electronic gadgets. An investment of $3-4 billion would be needed, and the Central government has in principle agreed to equity participation in the investment. The consortium has been given six months to put up a proposal, and "I see a ray of hope," Mr Maran told reporters after inaugurating a lead-free plating process at SPEL Semiconductor Ltd's Maraimalai Nagar facility near Chennai. Mr Maran said he had conceived of the project two months ago during his visit to the Silicon Valley in the US. The plant would have a futuristic vision to manufacture chips in the 45, 40 and 35 nanometre (one billionth of a metre) sizes, he said. The Minister said such a fabrication facility for semiconductor wafer was the missing link in India. The country has design, assembling and testing capabilities. With telecom major Nokia set to put up a production unit in India and others, including Motorola and Ericsson, to join the bandwagon,, such a plant assumed significance, he said. On the possible location for the project, Mr Maran said wafer making required a lot of water. Any city that can ensure adequate water could be a potential location, he said. $100 m revenue target SPEL Semiconductor Ltd, promoted by the Chennai-based Spic Group, hopes to achieve revenue of $100 million by 2009-2010 from $13-14 million projected for this fiscal, according to Mr Ar Rm Arun, Vice-Chairman. The company, which provides assembly and testing services for integrated circuit (IC) manufacturers on job-work basis, plans to invest $10 million in capacity expansion at its Maraimalai Nagar plant. The funding would be a combination of debt and convertible bonds, he told reporters. In the first phase of a five-year plan, the plant's annual capacity would be doubled to around 350 million units from the present 180 million units. The company currently employs 600, and the headcount would increase 15-10 per cent after the expansion, said Mr Sam Varghese, Chief Executive Officer.
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