The government has announced plans to invest 4,500 crore rupees to modernise the state owned Semi Conductor Laboratory over the next three years. Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw shared the update during a device handling ceremony.
Semi Conductor Laboratory is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. It is the only integrated device manufacturing facility in the country that provides complete solutions for Application Specific Integrated Circuits, opto electronics devices and Micro Electro Mechanical System devices.
The minister said that the centre has asked the Punjab government to provide a twenty five acre land parcel to support the expansion. He stated, “SCL will be modernised with an investment of Rs 4,500 crore over a period of the next three years.”
He added that Semi Conductor Laboratory will play an important role in supporting the national vision for the semiconductor sector. He also confirmed that there is no plan to privatise the facility. He said production at Semi Conductor Laboratory must grow one hundred times and that the technology used at the centre needs a major upgrade. According to him, “There is a need to bring substantial change in technology. We need to take a big jump over decades old technology that we have here. SCL Mohali will provide a tape out facility for startups.”
A tape out facility refers to a semiconductor manufacturing setup where the final chip design is sent for fabrication after the design stage is complete.
The minister also said that three hundred university students and research fellows are currently using the world’s latest Electronic Design Automation tools for chip design in the country. He noted that Semi Conductor Laboratory will play an important role in producing these chips. Electronic Design Automation tools are software systems used to design integrated circuits and printed circuit boards.
He further added, “We need to expand SCL Mohali. We have requested the Punjab government to allocate 25 acres of land. The faster you allocate the land, the faster it will help in the expansion of SCL Mohali.”
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