In the backdrop of Semicon India 2022 being organised in Bengaluru from 29th April by the Ministry of Electronics & IT and the recently announced Scheme for Promotion of Semiconductor Eco-System in India with a massive outlay of Rs 76,000 Crores, SEMI President & CEO Mr Ajit Manocha met ELCINA Leaders in New Delhi to explore collaboration opportunities for promoting the Semiconductor and electronics industry. The vision of the industry leaders is to catalyse the industry in India and support investors by ensuring that the benefits of the Semiconductor and other schemes under the National Policy on Electronics are delivered to them and targets achieved.
SEMI, headquartered in Milpitas, California, USA, is the leading global industry association comprising companies involved in the semiconductor, electronics design and manufacturing supply chain connecting a vast global community from the electronics domain serving more than 2,500 member companies and 1.3 million professionals worldwide.
SEMI is headed by Mr Ajit Manocha, a distinguished industry leader with over 40 years of global experience in the semiconductor industry. Formerly he was CEO at GlobalFoundries. He has had an esteemed career shouldering top responsibilities at Spansion, Philips/NXP Semiconductors following his early career success at AT&T Bell Laboratories where, as a research scientist, he was granted several patents related to microelectronics manufacturing. Mr Manocha is active on global advocacy issues, championing electronics advances to improve global innovation, health, safety, talent, and education. In 2020, the Silicon Valley Engineering Council inducted him to be in the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame.
The two associations agreed to foster collaboration and identify potential opportunities in the upcoming semiconductor and microelectronics sector in the country and work to realise the potential.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sanjay Agarwal, President of ELCINA expressed great enthusiasm about the prospects of SEMI and ELCINA working together. He said “ELCINA is dedicated to serving electronics manufacturing across verticals and supporting Semiconductor manufacturing is a matter of pride for us. Some of our long-term members are manufacturing Discrete semiconductors and devices and our collaboration with SEMI will strengthen our efforts and enable the growth of this high-tech segment. Our strengths are complementary, and this will have very encouraging results in the times to come. ELCINA can provide an interactive and vibrant platform in India to global companies represented by SEMI and hand-holding them to successfully establish operations in India and avail benefits of the schemes formulated by the Central and State Governments of India. We are dedicated to working to provide a seamless and positive experience in India”.
Mr Ajit Manocha too expressed happiness at the prospect of SEMI working with ELCINA and welcomed the strategic objective of the Government of India and the industry to become a hub for electronics and semiconductor innovations serving the requirement of the world. “The partnership
with ELCINA will be beneficial for the entire industry,” Mr Manocha said. “Some tough lessons had been learned from the geopolitical issues over the last 2-3 years which had shaken up the confidence of global companies”. However, he stated that “India had not taken advantage of the opportunities which had emerged while smaller economies such as Vietnam and Philippines had been able to gain more. The new Semiconductor Policy announced by the Ministry of Electronics & IT is well thought out and much better geared to catalyse the growth of the semiconductor industry in India. We are very happy to collaborate with ELCINA to connect the industry in India with the global semiconductor community for mutual benefit. We will work towards the common objectives of supporting the global electronics industry and strengthen the efforts for research and development for sustainability, green electronics, societal gains and skill development”.
Dr Ashwini Agarwal, Director, Applied Materials spoke on the India Semiconductor Opportunity -Challenge and Change, and highlighted the “huge potential for ELCINA to work together to promote the semiconductor industry in line with ‘Make in India’ opportunity. There was a need for a strong focus on B2B engagement and collaborations for investment and market promotion” Dr Agarwal said.
Mr Amrit Manwani, Chairman of Sahasra Group which is establishing the first Semiconductor facility for packaging memory devices was equally optimistic about the SEMI – ELCINA collaboration and the future of semiconductor manufacturing in India. “Being a part of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat” initiative the ‘India Semiconductor Mission’ (ISM) is bound to be a great success and we at ELCINA would be happy to be a part of this nation-building exercise”.
Key ELCINA members and Past Presidents who participated included Mr Vinod Sharma, MD, Deki Electronics Ltd., Mr Sanjive Narayan, Director, Syrma-SGS and Mr Pankaj Gulati, COO, CDIL. They were keenly looking forward to this close association with SEMI as there was great synergy between the two associations with the potential to work together for benefit of their respective members. Notable participating organisations in the meeting included Infineon, Corning, Tata Electronics, Seoul Semiconductors and NCFlexe, IIT Kanpur.
Speaking on behalf of ELCINA Members, Rajoo Goel, Secretary-General, said that the all-encompassing role of SEMI covering a wide scope of the electronics industry is highly synergistic with ELCINA for future engagements to bring new opportunities for the Indian industry and enable them to move into the higher technology space.
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