Cabinet approves 2 semiconductor units worth Rs 63,410 crore.

The Cabinet has approved two electronic chip manufacturing plants in the country to be set up by two groups, with players such as STMicroelectronics and IBM, for a total of Rs. 63,410 crore.

One of the semiconductor wafer fabrication manufacturing plants will be set up by Jaiprakash Associates Ltd., with IBM and Tower Semiconductor of Israel as partners, an official statement said recently.

The other plant will be built by HSMC Technologies India Pvt. in partnership with STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest semiconductor maker, and Silterra Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

The project by Jaiprakash Associates will cost Rs 34,399 crore and will be located along the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. It will have a capacity of 40,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM).

WSPM is a measure of the capacity of a chip factory and is equal to the number of fresh wafers introduced into the fabrication sequence each month.

The project by HSMC Technologies will cost Rs. 29,013 crore and have a capacity of 40,000 WSPM. It will be located at Prantij in Gujarat.

Letters of intent will be issued to the two consortia by March 31 and the final agreements are expected to be signed by August, according to the statement.

ET