• Investment World
• eWorld
• Catalyst
• Mentor
• Life
• Canvas
• Praxis
• Urban Pulse
• Brand Quest

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• Business Line
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Our Bureau

Mr Vinod K. Agarwal (second from right), President and CEO of Sem India, exchanging documents with Ms Lakshmi Parthasarathy, Principal Secretary, Major Industries, after signing an MoU for setting up the Rs 13,500-crore Fab City in Hyderabad on Thursday. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy; Dr J. Geeta Reddy, Minister for Major Industries; and Mr T.K. Dewan, Chief Secretary, are also seen. - P.V. Sivakumar

Hyderabad , Feb. 16

SEMINDIA, a consortium working towards establishing a $3-billion semiconductor manufacturing base, and the Andhra Pradesh Government today entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for an ambitious project that seeks to put India on the global semiconductor map.

Speaking to newspersons, the Chairman of SemIndia, Dr Vinod K. Agarwal, said that a special purpose vehicle (SPV) would soon be created and the role of developer of the project would be transferred to it within 45 days.

Thanking the State Government, Dr Agarwal said: "The speed at which the State has responded is probably an example of how India has changed in the recent past, creating new benchmarks. Nowhere has anybody signed an MoU barely within a week of announcing the project location."

Dr Agarwal and Ms Lakshmi Parthasarathi, Principal Secretary (Industries), signed the MoU in the presence of the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

"Once the land is transferred to the SPV, we expect to begin work. SemIndia has enlisted the services of two Singapore-based firms - Jurong and Serbana - as master planners for the project that would see phased development," Dr Agarwal said.

In the first phase, the project will have two components - a $75-million test and assembly line that would be used by the company's technology partner, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and a fab.

The financial closure of the project would be based on the announcement of a semiconductor policy and also the Central Government equity contribution to the project.

The equity component would be about $1 billion, while the rest would be debt.

While the test and assembly unit could churn out some 25 million chips a year, the fab facility would handle about 2,40,000 wafers a year, with each wafer potentially holding hundreds of chips.

This capacity would be doubled in the second phase, when the total investment would be about $3 billion.

Explaining the economics of semiconductors, Dr Agarwal said: "Typically this industry thrives in a cluster environment. We expect several other chipmakers to set up facilities. What would begin with consumption within the country would be exported all over the world. This is backed by AMD, which has 23 per cent share in the world; it has doubled its marketshare in five years. Soon we expect to announce other partners. AMD itself would be a major customer for this project."

More Stories on : New Projects | Hardware | Infrastructure | Andhra Pradesh

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
DoT favours ADC at 2.5 pc of operators' annual revenue — Move may lead to cheaper domestic calls

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line