Connect 2007: Tamil Nadu takes lead in building Semicon ecosystem

R Jai Krishna

Chennai

September 19th, 2007

In a bid to take the lead step in building a semiconductor ecosystem within
few days after the final policy was announced, Tamil Nadu announced the first
fab near Chennai. The state will also come out with a comprehensive policy to
attract investments in this emerging sector.

Addressing Connect 2007, Deepak Puri, MD of Moser Baer India announced its
plans to set-up a solar photovoltaic cell manufacturing unit near Chennai.
"We will be setting-up a unit at Oragadam, near Chennai at an initial
investment of Rs 2000 crore. The unit will provide employment to about 4000
people," he informed.

Puri said that Moser Baer had asked for 125 acres of land for setting-up the
unit. "Once the land is allotted then we will be up and running in 15-18
months. The unit will produce SPV and thin films of 80 megawatts, with the
majority of products for export purpose," he informed.

Later talking to CyberMedia News, Shakti Kanta Das, State industry secretary
said that the unit first of its kind in India will pave the way for a
semiconductor ecosystem to be established in Tamil Nadu. "The SEZ will see
vendors, partners and customers of Moser Baer to set-up their operations, thus
taking the overall investment to Rs 8000-10000 crore," he said.

Dr C Chandramouli, IT secretary of Tamil Nadu reiterated the fact of a
semiconductor ecosystem and other fab also following suite. "We will see
more companies lining up after the new IT policy being announced in the next few
months. In the new policy, the state government has incorporated the sops for
the semiconductor industry. The State IT task force and the Union IT Minister
have discussed the draft. The policy will be put in public domain in the next
couple of months," he added.

The Tamil Nadu Government seems to fill-up the gap in the electronic
manufacturing system, with the semiconductor fab, after companies such as Nokia,
Dell, and Motorola had already established their facilities in Sriperumbudur,
near Chennai.

Semiconductor was the only left out unit to complete the electronic
manufacturing ecosystem being developed by the state.