The Cabinet on Thursday approved Tata‘s semiconductor chip fabrication unit in Gujarat with an outlay of nearly INR 50,000 crore, said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran had last year said that the conglomerate will announce its semiconductor chip fab “very soon,” and “it will be a very big investment.”
The Cabinet also gave nod to Tata Electronics’ plant involving a financial outlay of INR 40,000 crore for assembling and packaging of semiconductors at Jagiroad in Assam.
This will be the first investment in a semiconductor packaging plant worth nearly INR 21,000 crore by the Assam government. It will be built jointly by the state government and Tata Group.
CG Power will also be setting up semiconductor unit in Gujarat in tie-up with Renesas Electronics Corp, Japan, and Stars Microelectronics, Thailand, the minister said.
Tata Sons’ anticipated capital infusion into new business areas and group priorities – semiconductors, defence, electric vehicles, and Air India, for instance – is set to exceed $120 billion in the coming years, sources told ET.
Initial assessments had pegged about $90 billion of capital deployment by 2027. The lion’s share of investments is earmarked for capital-intensive pursuits like semiconductors and Air India, marking the largest domestic investment commitment in conglomerate’s history.
In recent months, the group had unveiled numerous investments. Plans include establishing a chip processing plant in Assam with an estimated outlay of approximately INR 40,000 crore and constructing a 20-gigawatt battery storage factory in Gujarat within the next few months.
The conglomerate has been taking bets for the future – be it Air India or its electronics and semiconductor play, Chandrasekaran said while delivering the 20th Anantharamakrishnan memorial lecture on “India’s Leadership in a Pivotal Decade” after being conferred with the MMA-Amalgamations Business Leadership Award 2023. He did not elaborate on plans for the semiconductor fab unit.
ET had earlier reported that the Tata group could be exploring partnerships with either one of two major Taiwanese chipmakers – Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) and UMC Group – for its proposed chip fabrication plant at Dholera in Gujarat.
“…we will produce multiple nodes,” Chandrasekaran had said.
He said the supply chain including advanced manufacturing is getting redefined and India with its size, demography and other advantages will be very significantly well placed to take advantage of this.
