Bengaluru: Taking a huge stride in its mission to emerge a front runner in semiconductor and IT hardware sector in the country, Karnataka signed an MoU with Israel-based ISMC Analog Fab Private Limited for setting up a Semiconductor Fab plant in the State with an investment of Rs. 22,900 crore (3 Billion dollars) in the presence of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The company is set to fully implement the project over a period of next 7 years with employment potential for 1500 persons. Additional Chief Secretary in the department of IT, BT Dr. EV Ramana Reddy on part of Karnataka and Director of ISMC Ajay Jalan signed the MoU.
Later, Minister for Higher Education, IT, BT Dr. C.N. Aswhathnarayan confirmed over a tweet that the Semiconductor Fab plant will come up in Mysuru. The Minister tweeted: “Happy to say that the state-of-the-art semiconductor plant will come up in Mysuru, the place that became best administered state in the world under Shri Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar. Hos administrative acumen is the guiding beacon for our government.
Karnataka is already a pioneer in IT, BT and R & D sectors. The MoU with ISMC would make Karnataka the place to look forward to in semiconductor technology, Bommai said in his address after signing of the MoU.
Karnataka has signed this major MoU when many other states are competing to draw investments in the Semiconductor Fab sector. Karnataka government understands that it is not just the concessions or incentives, it is the conducive ecosystem that is needed to draw the investors. The State has the best infrastructure and skilled human resources, Bommai said.
It is a major stride in the semiconductor sector. There are challenges ahead. The MoU would drive us to turn those challenges into opportunities, Bommai said. The Union government under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Semiconductor Mission and it has spurred Karnataka to lead the march in this sector, Bommai said.
The MoU has provided a forum for technology and cultural exchange between Israel and India, Bommai added and requested ISMC not just to set up the plant here, but bring the latest developments in the technology as it evolves with time to this plant in Karnataka.
“This MoU is a significant agreement amid the competition among various states to attract semiconductor fabs. Karnataka understands that it’s not just the fiscal incentives that matter but availability of conducive eco-system and overall ease in operations are also important. We have one of the best infrastructures in the country and an abundant skilled talent pool. As a state we are not just trying to bring down the entry barriers for businesses but also make it easier to exit businesses, should it be so required.
With robust policies, committed team, best in class infrastructure and ever-increasing talent pool of workers, Karnataka is on its way to become premier investment destination. I invite all of you to be a part of this Growth Story. ” – Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Minister, Karnataka.
Semiconductor fabrication is a workforce-intensive process like program codes, needing many many people . The focus willlbe chip design for automobiles and other areas, and the technological excellence is in the graphics-based chip design, and that Israel will provide. They will never leaave this work to Indians in Mysore. The required clean rooms and other equipment will be provided by Israel.
When the templates of chip design arrive, it needs hundreds of people to work in the assembly lines of the processes involved, most of them in clean rooms.
All top engineers will be Israelis, particularly those who supervise the testing and quality control.
Hence, like software coding work, this is chip fabrication work needing hundreds of cheap tech labour.
This is yet another outsourced work, as tech labour in India is cheap. Israel is a small country and hence its tech labour is expensive.
Currently China and Taiwan are World leaders=particularly the latter.
Israel will proceed cautiously, as thry know India supports Palestinians ,with its large Muslim population. They are also aware that Karnataka may get Congress government in the near future, who arestaunch Palestine supporters, and do not look at Israel kindly at all.
Hence, this is just a MOU.
Israel has been looking for a country with cheap techies who would be employed to manufacture the chips used for a variety of applications-currently for automobiles. This company is ready with the chip templates, and will expect India to bear cost for the construction of the plant with plenty of clean room facilities, and supply cheap techies. They would not design, as the design arrives from Israel, but will work in clean rooms.
A number of Israeli microelectronics and process engineers will be stationed in Mysore. Israel is expecting Mysore airport to be functional by that time. With a stop over at UAE ( Israel has established diplomatic relation with UAE), the jet airliner from Ben Gurion airport will arrive to Mysore.
Of the 1500 employees, only a few will be Indian process engineers, the rest will be employees who work in clean rooms-hence the cheap labour angle. Other than that Israelis will control the entire process, testing and quality control. Israel is a top IT tech country with software expertise in almost all areas, particularly in the mobile and defence applications, with excellent engineers .
The problem as the above poster raised is: will the Mysore Muslims accept the plant associated with Israel? For example, what does the car owner Muslims like Javeed Nayeem think of Israel plant in Mysore? Israel engineers in Mysore? Flights originating from the Mysore airport to Tel Aviv in Israel, and back? The attitude of Muslim-loving, Palestinian -loving Congress?
I agree with all that you say about the tech level of the tasks transferred to Indians, the centrality of the role of Israelis, both in the technology (design, modification, & processing) and management. Nothing wrong with that. The Chinese started with making toys in Hong Kong.
Besides this being for analog chips makes it very strategic. Analog devices are what are required for sensors. How about nanotechnology? Nano devices use the same fabrication processes.
@RM
Chinese and toys were at the turn of 20th century. By 1970s, China started growing high tech and within a few years , China became a giant manufacturing nation., independently manufacturing the hardware components needed by the world.
China and India became independent about the same time in late 1940s.China is arguably the second economic giant, holding USD reserves next only to US. Look at where India is today! Every tine fighter jets are bought, Indians political leaders brag that the country will manufacture its own advanced fighter jets! Yet, India, has recently bought non-stealth Rafael jets from France!
Narendra Modi wants India to overtake China. Hence this gimmick. But the reality is different.
Do not compare India with China. China is now a military and economic superpower. Where as India is still a ‘sleeping ‘giant in slumber! China has the most advanced hypersonic missiles.
Look the same things as you have said about this facility was said about InfoSys and Wipro, too, when they were taking outsourced coding work from major IT companies in the US, as far back as 1980s. Today, in 2022, they are still doing the same kind of outsourced work., running IT sweat shops using cheap IT techie labour. No innovation. The apps that Indian s download are mostly Chinese. Nano technologies in India? Forget it!
The ISMC core company is Tower Semiconductor located i n Israel which itself was acquired by Intel. The sensor integrated circuits, may not require similar complex design and rigorous facilities as the digital ICs. Taiwan excels here.
The points made was this Mysore facility is used as an outsourced facility just like Infosys and Wipro, for the outsourced work using cheap Indian labour, where as all the strategic operations such as design, fabrication supervision etc,.. are controlled by Israelis. Like Infosys and Wipro, it will remain an outsourced facility for decades.
Look at how dirty Indian/Mysore streets are-people urinating and defecating openly. Corruption and casteism. Those with brains, emigrate to Western countries. India is a typical third world country. For ever, it it serves as a country of cheap labour.
Finally, I agree with posters that Congress and Muslim population do not like the Israel tie up.
MOU is one thing, but making it to successful as facility is another. A lot of water has to flow under the bridge.
@RM does not understand China and Chinese. He also does not recognise that all manufacturing companies like HMT machine tools, HMT watch factory, BEL, ITI and NGEF failed miserably. India has no manufacturing culture.
For a start, Hong Kong was a British Colony for 155 years until 1997, when it was handed over to China. Hong Kong Chinese are ethnically Chinese with different mind set with a different spoken language-Cantonese. The one thing that is common to them is they all work very hard. Some of my best students and colleagues were Chinese not Indians. They , unlike Indians I know well, are very sincere and loyal even today. Their work ethic is exemplary. That is what made Taiwanese supreme in their semiconductor/chip manufacturing facilities. China is catching up fast too.
As posters said, it is both military and economic superpower. Unlike India, China encourages science research.
China has achieved its supremacy through its command economy-through dictatorship. While democracy is preferable, the Indian -style democracy-not a liberal democracy but worshipping people in power is its major handicap, giving plenty of room to corruption.
China and India became independent about the same time. But , China today is in a different league.
India has only one basket-IT outsourced work. I have have yet to see any innovative software coming out of the IT tech companies in Bangalore.
I remember, when HMT watch factory was set up with imported Japanese watch parts, the Indian PM -Nehru and the the then Mysore state CMs Jatti and Nijalingappa, claiming that , Mysore will be like the Swiss manufacturing high quality watches! After the imported parts, when the manufacturing began in HMT watch factory in Jalahalli, the quality soon went down.
Narendra Modi, seeing the pressure on Taiwanese Chip factories, said, he wanted India ro be like them! He was travelling in the cloud, with wishful thinking! The israelis are using this as a trial They are aware of the problems in India- political and economical The labour intensive work needed for this analogue chip fabrication unit , is the attraction to them. They will ofocurse control everything with the chip design arriving from Israel.
This is just a MOU. Much needed to make it happen.
Perhaps another factor to be considered is a typical semiconductor factory makes integrated circuits gulps about million gallons of water per day (depending on the output capacity), which ultimately must be disposed of as waste. It also needs large amounts of stable and steady energy. It generates many toxic chemicals into atmosphere and water, all of which can harm the environment and ecology.
Two examples are :
ABCD alone uses almost 5% of all the country’s electricity, according to figures from Greenpeace, predicted to rise to 7.2% in 2022, and it used about 63m tons of water in 2019. The company’s water use became a controversial topic during the country’s drought this year, the country’s worst in a half century, which pitted chipmakers against farmers.
A single fab, MNOP’s 700-acre campus, produced nearly 15,000 tons of waste in the first three months of this year, about 60% of it hazardous. It also consumed 927m gallons of fresh water, enough to fill about 1,400 Olympic swimming pools, and used 561m kilowatt-hours of energy.
Perhaps would it be right to summarise that the Chip Industry has a significant problem with its huge carbon footprint?
@sachin
The water issue is not more serious than what is involved in the Kalapakkam nuclear power plant. The chip industry does not use heavy machineries and hence the power issue can be solved. The unit needs exclusive water supply and power.
I have mentioned other issues which are more important, from my experience of working in the chip industry in the US.
India simply has poor record in manufacturing sector.
@Jalandhara, Thanks for your views. Much appreciated as much as everybody else’s views here.
Perhaps for some, the water issues may not be more serious than for other people.
Perhaps the (less/more) seriousness of the issue is best left the individuals who are suffering/concerned about potable water sources and its fast depletion, pollution and its usage for other purposes.
You definitely have mentioned other issues (just like other people here have) and contributed to the pool of points being surfaced.
Whether those are more important or not is best left to the people to decide for themselves?
Good, that with your experience you were able to contribute here and enrich the conversation. Please continue, so that all readers can benefit.
Thank you.
It’s heartening and a relief to see someone appreciating other’s view and responding in courteous manner. Of late comments section in Star of Mysore has become similar to social media where people use abusive words and troll other commenters rather than responding in a decent manner.
Oh dear… This isn’t good news in some regards, chip fabs are known for having a major carbon footprint, they need tremendous volumes of electricity and water, and also produce pollutants. Why do you think most chip fabs are located in East Asian countries?
What is seen as a boon to Mysore is surely going to be a curse and Bane very soon. When are our leaders going to wakeup? Really SAD story for namma Mysore lovers.
@Mysore
It is very simple. Comments are appreciated only when the commentators make sensible observations.
Myosreans are often not polite. Try walking on footpaths or ask a scooter rider to be careful so that he does not
run over you. You see the real Mysoreans then
Dear Sachin,
Why don’t you convert and become an Armenian. No electric power, no patrol, no powered vehicles, no machines. Wear Khadi cloths and wooden Sandals and be happy. You can live an absolute carbon neutral life.
I don’t know why this poor people living in garbage trying to overthink this. one guy say it uses million tons of water, who uses ton as a measurement for water?! go study 1 standard and come back to comment, cheap persons read on internet and come vomit everything here. 1400 football fields itseems🤣🤣, India uses 1400 million litres and in that 1400 swimming pool can be filled thousands of time. and he says it uses 5% of water will become toxic. have you heard of water treatment plants?? they will convert most of the water to environment friendly. if you don’t want all these stop using mobiles, vehicles, electricals and especially your clothes,India textile company leaves tremendous carbon foot print. go wear leafs and live in jungle.