The recent SEMICON India 2024 event, held at the India Expo Mart, served as a platform for global semiconductor industry leaders to acknowledge and appreciate Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s vision for the sector. The event saw the participation of top CEOs from the industry, including Ajit Manocha of SEMI, Randhir Thakur of Tata Electronics, Kurt Sievers of NXP Semiconductors, Hidetoshi Shibata of Renesas Electronics, and Luc Van Den Hove of IMEC. Ajit Manocha, the President and CEO of SEMI, opened his address with an expression of admiration for the magnitude of the event. He described the scale of SEMICON India 2024 as unprecedented and exponential, starting his address with the word WOW. Manocha went on to praise PM Modi’s exceptional leadership, stating that it has inspired not just India, but the entire world.
He highlighted the rapid progress India has made in the semiconductor sector, attributing a significant part of this growth to PM Modi’s pivotal role in kickstarting the industry. We were walking earlier, now we are running… Opportunities are there, he added, emphasizing the potential for further growth. Randhir Thakur, the CEO and MD of Tata Electronics, expressed his gratitude to PM Modi for making the exhibition possible. He highlighted India’s significant strides in establishing its first commercial fab in Gujarat and an Indigenous semiconductor plant in Assam. Thakur noted that both projects received approval from the Government of India in record time, setting a global benchmark.
He emphasized Tata’s collaboration with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor, which provides access to proprietary technology to address markets such as AI, automotive, and data storage. Kurt Sievers, the President and CEO of NXP Semiconductors, underscored the importance of collaboration, ambition, and trust. He described India’s progress as a big milestone on the transformational journey of India. Sievers noted that NXP has been operating in India for 50 years and praised the country’s combination of innovation, democracy, and trust, which attracts businesses like his to work in India. He reiterated NXP’s commitment to India, stating, NXP is here to stay and committed to boosting the semiconductor ecosystem in India.
Hidetoshi Shibata, the CEO of Renesas Electronics, spoke about the company’s partnership with CG Power to establish one of India’s first semiconductor assembly facilities in Gujarat. He added that Renesas is expanding its operations in India, including doubling its headcount in Bengaluru and Hyderabad by next year. Shibata shared insights into Renesas’ role in bringing sophisticated semiconductor technologies to the global market and praised India’s potential in the sector. Luc Van Den Hove, the CEO of IMEC, emphasized the importance of a long-term R&D strategy for semiconductor development, calling it a marathon rather than a sprint. He praised India’s commitment to semiconductor manufacturing and expressed IMEC’s readiness to form strategic partnerships with India. The world needs a reliable supply chain, and who can be a better-trusted partner than the world’s largest democracy, Van Den Hove said, pledging IMEC’s support for India’s ambitious plans.
SEMICON India 2024 underscored India’s growing influence in the semiconductor industry. The event highlighted the rapid strides India has made in the industry and the potential for future growth. The leaders’ addresses underscored the importance of collaboration, ambition, and trust in the industry, and their commitment to supporting India’s journey in becoming a key player in the global semiconductor supply chain. This is reminiscent of the 1990s when India emerged as a global IT hub, attracting multinational companies and fostering homegrown tech giants. The current developments in the semiconductor sector seem to be a repeat of that history, with India poised to become a significant player in the global semiconductor industry.
