Chip makers to get free power, land

The government is in the process of drafting a national semi-conductor policy as more and more proposals are pouring in for setting up semi-conductor facilities across India.

The policy would be modelled on the framework in Taiwan and China, said an official. Adapting a policy akin to that of China and Taiwan means that infrastructure facilities, like power, water and land, required for setting up a project will be provided to the promoters free of cost.

Taiwan has about 40 chip plants and China has 39 fabrication facilities. 'fab city' requires about 60 mw power and about 50 million gallons of water per day once it is fully operational.

A few companies including SemIndia are asking for such concessions. At present, there are hardly any policy guidelines to support projects like the fab city and with non-resident Indians like the consortiums promoting SemIndia and Indian Equipment Manufacturing Company wanting to set up fabrication projects, a policy framework was required, officials
said.

Recently, the SemIndia-led consortium, which includes AMD as its technology partner, had announced the setting up of a fabrication facility with a total cost outlay of $3 billion.

The IEMC had also announced that it had intentions of setting up a fabrication facility with an investment of $3-4 billion.