RIL to set up semiconductor fab, solar photovoltaic units

Marking the largest-ever project under the new semiconductor policy, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has approached the Government with plans to set up a semiconductor wafer fabrication plant and solar PV module unit, at a total outlay of over Rs 30,000 crore. With this, the Government has now received a cumulative investment commitment of almost Rs 63,000 crore from six companies, under the scheme to promote semiconductor fabs and other micro and nano technology units. Reliance Industries’ proposal for establishment of a semiconductor wafer fab with Assembly, Test, Mark and Packaging (ATMP) facility would involve an investment of Rs 18,521 crore spread over a period of 10 years. The company plans to locate the proposed facility – with a fab capacity of 70,000 wafers per month and ATMP capacity of 10 million packages per week – at either an SEZ in Navi Mumbai, Hyderabad, Mysore or Haryana. This first-of-its-kind fab in the private sector would focus on areas such as advanced logic, memories and embedded system on chips, sources said. Reliance also plans to manufacture polysilicon, solar-grade wafers and SPV modules with capacity of 1 Giga Watt, at an investment of Rs 11,631 crore over a 10-year period. While the solar project located at SEZ in Jamnagar (Gujarat) is expected to create over 11,000 jobs, the semiconductor wafer fab and ATMP units would employ another 4,000 people. RIL has sought a subsidy of Rs 3,394.5 crore for the semiconductor fab and Rs 2,326.2 crore for the solar project. Other companies that have applied to the Government under the scheme are Videocon Industries (Rs 8,000 crore investment), Moser Baer PV Technologies (Rs 6,000 crore), Titan Energy System (Rs 5,880 crore), KSK Energy Ventures (Rs 3,211 crore), and Signet Solar (Rs 9,672 crore). Proposals received are for manufacture of items such as Polysilicon, wafers, solar cells, solar photovoltaic modules (SPV) liquid crystal display (LCD), integrated circuits-advanced logic, memory and embedded system on chip, including ATMP facility for semiconductor devices. India has long been trying to woo global chip giants to set up manufacturing units (Intel decided to set up its manufacturing plants in China and Vietnam), and the new policy is aimed at placing the country in the league of hardware destinations such as Japan, Taiwan, China, Korea, and Singapore. “There has been a tremendous response among investors both in India and outside. Within a short span of seven months, seven proposals envisaging investments of Rs 62,915 crore have been received,” the Communications and IT Minister, Mr A. Raja, told reporters here. Under the special incentive package scheme, the Government would provide incentive of 20 per cent capital expenditure during the first 10 years for the units in SEZs and 25 per cent of the capital expenditure in non-SEZ units.