The Hindu Business Line : Chip policy: Support is at the `threshold point'

Chennai April 2 The semiconductor policy, recently notified, is a fairly good start, says Mr Raj Singh, founder and Director of Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC), the company that recently announced a $4.5-billion investment for chip manufacturing in India.

Mr Singh is also founder and General Partner of Redwood Ventures, based in Los Altos, US.

"In most countries the support from the Government is over 30 per cent, therefore the proposed package is at the threshold point," says Mr Singh, in an interaction with Business Line.

He foresees that a few companies would be able to justify their business model based on their predicted market share of the domestic and overseas.

"However, it is not at a point that the companies will be overwhelmed to come to India," observes Mr Singh.

Excerpts from an interview.

Are there rough edges in the policy that need ironing out?

Details of the policy just came out this week. Our experts are reviewing details to identify areas of concern, if any.

On market potential.

The projected market for electronic products is close to $350 billion by 2015, leading to a chip market of about $35 billion, which is fairly sizeable and many foundry projects can be justified. Chip manufacturing will be the enabler for the electronic market.

On environmental concerns.

The technology is well perfected to deal with the environmental concerns. We need to use world-class technologies for both wastewater treatment and solid waste. Use techniques similar to the ones used by foundries in the Western world.

Any take on who the other players are going to be, keen on entering India.

No idea.

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