Govt To Invest Rs 4,500 Cr To Modernise Semiconductor Lab In Mohali: Ashwini Vaishnaw

(MENAFN- KNN India) Chandigarh, Nov 29 (KNN) Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister, Electronics and Information Technology, along with Minister of State Ravneet Singh, reviewed the ongoing modernisation at the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali on Friday.

During the visit, Vaishnaw announced that the Government will invest Rs 4,500 crore to upgrade and expand the facility, reaffirming that SCL will remain a government-owned institution.
“There is no doubt-SCL Mohali will be modernised and it will not be privatised. A big journey is ahead, and India is ready for it,” he said while addressing a programme at the campus, where 28 student-designed semiconductor chips from 17 academic institutions were handed over.

With these additions, 56 chips developed under the Chips to Start-up (C2S) programme have now been fabricated at SCL.

The chips were designed using Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools made available to students through the C2S initiative.

Vaishnaw also inaugurated two new facilities-the Semiconductor Process Gallery, featuring a clean room with older-generation fabrication tools for educational use, and the Abhyuthanam Training Block, which offers online and offline semiconductor training along with hands-on safety modules.

The Minister outlined the government's vision for SCL, noting that the upcoming investment will enable a substantial scale-up in wafer production, targeting a hundredfold increase over current levels.

He said SCL will continue to support students, researchers and start-ups by providing fabrication services to convert chip designs into silicon prototypes.

India, he added, is among the few countries where students from nearly 300 universities are designing semiconductor chips using advanced EDA tools provided through government support.

Vaishnaw stressed that SCL will remain a hub for talent development and innovation, with fabrication support set to expand further as modernisation progresses.

To facilitate this, the Centre has requested the Punjab Government to allocate 25 acres of additional land for SCL's growth.

The Minister said India will build an ecosystem for indigenous semiconductor development. A consortium comprising CDAC, DRDO and other organisations will collaborate on the design, product development and manufacturing of domestically developed chips.

(KNN Bureau)

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