- A budget of $200 million could be provided to assist semiconductor design companies for innovation and research
- It is estimated that in the next 5 years, more than 1 lakh design engineers are going to be produced in our country
The minister of state for electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar has now informed the media that the government is now looking forward to augment the design-linked incentive (DLI) scheme to boost the growth of semiconductor industry by including the global giants both domestic and foreign. Moreover, the minister has said that a budget of $200 million could be provided to assist semiconductor design companies for innovation and research.
Currently, startups who are expertised in product applications from artificial intelligence to image sensors and vector processes have been approved for the scheme, which is a part of the $10 billion incentives announced in December 2021.
As per the rules of the current scheme, MSMEs and startups are only allowed to go for the incentives. The DLI scheme is aimed to craft in-house intellectual property in the semiconductor ecosystem as well as design processor cores, chipsets, integrated circuits and system on chips (SoCs).
The minister said, “We are envisaging that this programme will now expand to include larger companies as well. We are willing to look at suggestions that are being made where big fabless companies will design in India and have the intellectual property (IP) owned or co-owned in India either in partnership with startups in India or on their own, and be qualified for financial support under the DLI scheme."
Apart from this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also added that there is an urgent need of the hour to modernize the engineering curriculum that can help in creating a sturdy semiconductor industry. In an effort to meet the same, PM Modi added that in India around 300 well-known colleges have been identified where specialized courses on semiconductors will be available.
The Prime Minister told the media, “It is estimated that in the next 5 years, more than 1 lakh design engineers are going to be produced in our country. India’s growing start-up ecosystem is also going to strengthen the semiconductor sector."
