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Over 100 Indian institutions offer semiconductor design curricula, but hardly any of them focuses on manufacturing and process technology, a top official from global memory and storage major Micron Technology said on Thursday.
There is significant global demand for such chip engineers, its president and chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra said at the 10th Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit in Gandhinagar.
"While more than 100 Indian institutions provide a semiconductor design curriculum, hardly any focus on semiconductor manufacturing and process technology.
“A significant global demand exists for manufacturing engineers and technicians," Mehrotra said.
Speaking to PTI, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hailed Micron president's suggestion and said that India is keen to provide manpower right from research and development to the market when it comes to semiconductors.
"We have to capture the global expectation," he said, adding that India has strengths like demographic dividend and quality educational institutions.
Pradhan said that the country needs to "reimagine" the entire skilling scenario.
Micron said the first phase of its plant in Gujarat's Sanand will become operational in early 2025.
It has already started construction of the plant by roping Tata Projects, and the hiring process has also begun.
"The first phase, which will include 500,000 square feet of plant clean room space, will become operational in early 2025," he said.
The investment was first announced during the US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2023 and construction had begun in September. Micron has committed to invest over $800 million in the plant of the over $2.75 billion cost.
The "clean room" typically hosts an Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) plant which operates in near-zero dust and vibration environment.
Mehrotra said the company will ramp up capacity over time as per global demand and added that it will begin the construction of the second phase of the facility in the latter half of the current decade.
Mehrotra said the combined investment by Micron and the government of India, which is supporting the project through a dedicated platform for creating a semiconductor ecosystem in the country, in the plant is $2.75 billion.
"Government support will help fund the project and also facilitate access to essential semiconductor infrastructure and resources, which will drive innovation and enhance local talent development," he said.
Micron chose Gujarat because of the strong manufacturing infrastructure here, he added.
"We are hopeful this investment will help catalyse other investments in the sector, indigenous manufacturing capability, encourage innovation and support broader job creation," Mehrotra said.
The company has already hired 200 people who are being trained at facilities in Malaysia and Mohali, he said, adding that after the completion of both phases, it will create 5,000 jobs at the site.
Meanwhile, Union minister for electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said that as many as 104 universities and institutions are offering courses, including doctoral studies, on semiconductors.
He added that globally, there is a demand for 10 lakh professionals specialising in semiconductors and India is keen to capture that opportunity.
Vaishnaw urged Micron to set up a centre of excellence at IIT Gandhinagar as a knowledge partner and promised to infuse the required resources for the facility.
Such a centre would help deepen research and development activities in the field of semiconductor and validate new ideas, Vaishnaw said.
Micron also announced a tie-up with global steel major Arcelor Mittal for skill development in the semiconductor space.