ISA brings out fab blueprint

Industry body, Indian Semiconductor Association (ISA) will be
making available a blueprint for building fabrication plant in India. Speaking
exclusively to CyberMedia News, Poornima Shenoy, ISA's president said that the
blueprint would be available next week to any state government interested in
exploring opportunities to set up semiconductor manufacturing facilities. The
blueprint contains details of the kind of land, water, power requirements that a
fab entails, and also legislation details that would be favorable for the
industry. ISA has recommended legislations like a 100 percent tax holiday for
ten years for manufacturing units operating inside fab city; incentives for
expenditure on R&D activities and exemption from payment of dividend
distribution tax. Shenoy said that Southern states Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
were keenly exploring possibilities for setting up fabs.

Dr June Min of NanoTech Silicon India who announced plans of
setting up a semiconductor fab in Andhra Pradesh, is still waiting funding, she
said.

Dayanidhi Maran, Union communications and information technology minister,
has been urging various states to look at setting up "fab cities." A
fab city would entail the allotment of around 1500 acres of land with adequate
and uninterrupted power, water and infrastructure facilities.

CYBERMEDIA NEWS