Temples of modern India: Tatas begin exporting samples of its chips
The shipment comes against the backdrop of the Tatas launches the groundwork for its chip packaging unit at Assam’s Morigaon and another one at Gujarat’s Dholera
In a move that’s pregnant with symbolism of the country’s newfound domestic industrial prowess, the house of the Tatas has kicked off exports of limited quantity of semiconductor chips coming out of the pilot unit at the Bengaluru-based research and development centre of Tata Electronics, The Economic Times reported. The produce has been dispatched to a few of the company’s partner businesses in the US, Europe and Japan.
The shipment comes against the backdrop of the Tatas launches the groundwork for its chip packaging unit at Assam’s Morigaon and another one at Gujarat’s Dholera. The unit in Gujarat is supposed to entail an investment of $10 billion or more than Rs 83000 crore according to current exchange rates.
“Tata Electronics has packaged chips there which they are sending to customers right now outside the country. They have multiple partners and are expanding their customer base. Some of these (products) are still in the pilot stage,” an official told the newspaper on conditions of anonymity.
Another official said that the Tatas are in the final stages of the design process of PCBs and ICs and have sent out shipments to potential customers to obtain feedback on the products. These semiconductor chips are in 28, 40, 55, 65 nanometre range. Some could also be higher nodes. “There are multiple rounds before a successful tape-out. So, some of these products will be in advanced stages of R&D and they will be sent to select customers to obtain feedback for testing and improvement. Commercial production is slated for 2027,” said the official. (Tape-out is an industrial term that is used to describe the final stage of design before they are sent for manufacturing.)
According to this official, these chips could be used for multiple products since they have not been designed for a specific purpose.
“When you package the chips, it really does not matter what the chips are used for. It is just a matter of when you package them and prepare them to be used. Tata Electronics has products in multiple areas,” the second official also said.
It was reported last month that Tesla has entered an agreement with Tata Electronics for supplying semiconductor chips for the US giant’s global manufacturing units.
Though Tata Electronics stayed mum to the newspaper’s queries, market observers said it is time for the company to reach out to companies abroad. Vice president at market researcher Counterpoint Research, Neil Shah, remarked the Tata Group has to begin showcasing its designing and manufacturing capabilities to attract customers and partners. The manufacturing units are supposed to be commissioned in 30-36 months.
“It is a great opportunity for Tata to start leveraging its end-to-end expertise and vision from early semiconductor design development work the company has been doing. Tata Electronics should set up solid front-end processes for co-design, testing and quality assurance processes for final production chip tape-outs when the fab is up. They must also formulate diligent back-end ATMP processes, services and pilots to achieve global manufacturing standards, lucrative yield rates and become a one-stop shop for both semiconductor design and manufacturing in India,” said Shah.
Shah also pointed out that Tata Elxsi has partnerships with Renesas, Lattice Semi. The Tatas also have expertise in the form of its in-house Sankhya Labs branch, both of which can be used for the purpose.
The Dholera chip unit is being set up in alliance with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC). Its capacity has been planned at up to 50,000 wafer starts per month. This fab unit is expected to manufacture chips in leading nodes such as 28 nm and 40 nm apart from some legacy or mature nodes such as 55 nm, 90 nm, and 110 nm.
The Tatas are also working on an outsourced assembly and testing (OSAT) unit in Assam since semiconductor assembly and testing constitutes a crucial part of the value chain.
Apart from the Tatas, CG Power is also working on a chip assembly and testing unit at Sanand in Gujarat. An OSAT plant by HCL Group-Foxconn group JV and another by Hiranandani Group’s Tarq Semiconductors that has partnered with Kaynes Technology are now awaiting government approval.