The Hindu Business Line : `India is not yet ready'

My view is that India needs a Fab, but is not ready yet. With the semiconductor industry on a roller-coaster ride towards rock bottom and with many sick Fabs on the brink of closing down, it would be wise to grab such plants elsewhere.

The other factor is the availability of manpower and other important resources such as clean water and electricity. While India, at the moment, lacks such resources, it would be good ground for Indian Investors to learn the tricks of the trade and at the same time get some manpower trained in those acquired fabs. When they establish a name for themselves and if the demand in India for semiconductors grows, it would be natural for them to come back and live up to expectations here.

If anyone, at this moment, wants to invest in India in a Fab, it would amount to burning money. All the Fabs in China, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are making losses. Isn't it wise to take the cue from loss-making National Semiconductor of Singapore (in spite of the fact that Singapore has very good infrastructure in place.)

Assuming, we forget about environment, people and resources, who is going to package the chips that come out of Fabs in India? In the first place, there are no assembly houses in India at the moment that can package BGAs, FCSPs. These packages have been in production for over 15 years elsewhere.

With current developments going towards 3D packaging and wafer-level packaging, Indian assembly houses have a lot of ground to cover.

With my over 12 years of experience in Packaging, a few patents in packaging and papers at international conferences, I can say India should first focus on getting a stronghold in Packaging, Assembly and Test and staggered investments in acquiring 8- inch fabs elsewhere.

KOLAN RAVI KANTH PACKAGING AND ASSEMBLY DEVELOPMENT (R&D) UNITED TEST AND ASSEMBLY CENTRE SINGAPORE.