Advanced Micro Devices has signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Indian tech firm SemIndia under which AMD may provide technologies necessarily to develop and manufacture microprocessors on SemIndia’s foundry which is yet to be built.
The agreement signed today allows SemIndia to license AMD’s proven process technology as well as necessary technology licenses for SemIndia’s planned wafer fabrication and assembly-test-mark-pack (ATMP) operations. AMD and SemIndia will also jointly develop and market semiconductor solutions for India, according to a statement.
“AMD is committed to succeeding in global high-growth markets, and we are proud that AMD’s industry-leading microprocessors and manufacturing capabilities will enable SemIndia to develop its own innovative solutions and expand the global market for information technology,” said Hector Ruiz, the head of AMD.
SemIndia is seeking to build a $3 billion semiconductor manufacturing in India within the next two to three years and utilize 90nm and 65nm process technologies from AMD to produce chips needed in the country. The company has plans to begin construction of the fab sometime in 2006, but currently it is unknown where the foundry is to be located. AMD may also pick up stake in the upcoming fab.
The MOU was signed by Dr. Hector Ruiz, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of AMD, and Dr. Vinod K. Agarwal, chairman of the board, SemIndia, in the presence of Thiru. Dayanidhi Maran, the honourable minister for communication and information technology.
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SEMICONDUCTOR POLICY TO SUPPORT FAB INDUSTRY IN INDIA WAS RELEASED IN FEB 2007.
Apart from hundreds of Indian Companies working on chip design, last few years has seen explosion of chip design work in India with emergence of offshore design centers set up by TI, IBM, AMD, Intel, Broadcom, Motorola, STM, Cisco and others. While India has grown by leaps and bounds in chip design, it did not have any history in Semi Conductor Fabrication.
Its reported that the semi conductor imports by India in the last year stood at a whopping US$2.8Billion, powered by zooming consumption of electronic gadgets including mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 players, ADSL modems etc.
The country had no policy / plan to support development of Fab Industry. The steps towards development of Chip Fabrication was initiated in 2005 -06, based on proposals of SemIndia (a consortium of NRIs led by Mr Vinod Agrwal) and NSTI promoted by Dr. Jun Min of Seoul-based Intellect, Inc. They offered to set up Semiconductor Foundries at the industrial park called Fabcity developed by APIIC (Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation), near Hyderabad.
After lot of dithering, on the extend of support to be given for the industry, the union Govt. put in place a high powered committee, to draw up the Semiconductor Policy and Fiscal Concession Package. The draft policy was approved by Union Cabinet in January 2007 followed by formal release of policy in February, paving the way for founding of an all new industry in India!
Announcing the release of the Semi Conductor Policy, the Union Minister for Communications and IT Mr. Dayanithi Maran said 'The red carpet has been rolled out. Each unit costs about US$3 billion, and we can have two to three factories in our country. Several multinational companies are in talks with us.'
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Date: 03/07/07 01:55:48 AM]
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