Chip off the block: The Hindu Editorial on semiconductor fabrication in India
The HinduAs funds for production-linked incentives for manufacturing semiconductors lie under-utilised by upwards of 80%, the Union government must be far clearer on what it has achieved — and aims to accomplish — by continuing to spend crores of rupees on bringing more semiconductor fabrication capabilities to India. But the central wager with these schemes, at much cost to the exchequer, lies in attracting an “ecosystem” that will increase the value addition of India’s electronics manufacturing sector. The wager also relies on global manufacturing giants giving other benefits of a globally distributed supply chain a go-by, including cheap and accessible international transport facilities for chips. These outlays must, therefore, be pegged to a tangible outcome: is this a matter of safeguarding cyber sovereignty to protect India from another pandemic-style supply chain shock, encouraging the domestic electronics industry to make electronics cheaper for Indian consumers, or asserting India as a global electronics manufacturing centre?