First chip from Tata’s Dholera plant to be out in Dec 2026: Vaishnaw

Unit capacity is 50,000 wafers p.m., involves investment of Rs 91,000 crore

DHOLERA: The first set of semiconductors will start rolling out from Tata Electronics’ plant here in December 2026, union minister for communications and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony of Tata Group’s and CG Semi’s chip plants, Vaishnaw said India will be among the top five chip ecosystems in the world by 2029. “The first chip from Dholera plant will be out in December 2026 and chip from Micron plant will be out by December 2024,” the minister said. He said Tata’s Dholera plant will make chips in 28, 50, 55 nanometer node.

PM Modi on Wednesday laid the foundation of three chip plants – two units by Tata Electronics and the third by Murugappa Group’s semiconductor company CG Semi Pvt Ltd – entailing total investment of Rs 1.26 lakh crore. The three plants include India’s first high-tech chip manufacturing plant of Tata Electronics which it is setting up in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp at Dholera’s special industrial region.

The plant will have the capacity to produce 50,000 wafers per month and involve an investment of Rs 91,000 crore. The Centre will contribute 50 per cent of the capex on pari passu basis. These chips driven by advanced technology will cater to multiple sectors – power management chips for EV, telecom, defence, automotive, consumer electronics, display, and power electronics. Semiconductor is a “foundational” industry touching almost every aspect of life, powering everything from fridge to ACs and cars, aircraft to trains.

PM laid the foundation of another new assembly and test facility of Tata Electronics in Jagiroad, Assam. Tata’s Assam facility will be built with an investment of Rs 27,000 crore and is expected to generate over 27,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region. This will be India’s first semiconductor unit in the Northeast.

Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test (TSAT) will develop indigenous advanced semiconductor packaging technologies, including flip chip and ISIP (integrated system in package) technologies, with a capacity of 48 million chips per day. The target segments for these would be automotive, electric vehicles, consumer electronics, telecom, and mobile phones, among others.

PM also laid the foundation of the semiconductor unit of CG Semi. It is a three way JV between CG Power, Renesas Electronics Corp and Stars Microelectronics of Thailand, coming up at Sanand in Gujarat at an investment of Rs 7,600 crore.

Renesas is a leading semiconductor firm focussed on specialised chips. It operates 12 semiconductor facilities and is a major player in microcontrollers, analogue, power, and system-on-chip products.

The plant will have a capacity for 15 mn chips per day, and will manufacture chips for consumer, industrial, automotive and power applications. Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran said the Tata Electronics’ semiconductor projects will initially create 50,000 direct and indirect jobs. He said the production at Assam plant is expected to start before the fabrication unit’s production in Dholera.