Orchestra 
DIGITAL WORLD
BRICS+ Media Centre 
MODERN RUSSIAN 
17.06.2617:00 
India approves 12 semiconductor manufacturing projects with investments totalling around US$17.2 billion
Their implementation is expected to establish a full microchip production cycle in the country
India has approved 12 major semiconductor manufacturing projects with a total investment of around US$17.2 billion, marking an important step towards the country’s development of its own electronics and technology industry. This was reported by IANS, a partner of TV BRICS.
According to the authorities, the approved projects include the construction and commissioning of one microchip manufacturing plant, two facilities for the production of semiconductor components, and nine packaging and testing plants.
The government is focusing not only on manufacturing but also on the development of equipment, materials and proprietary technologies, as well as on strengthening resilient supply chains.
Under the government’s programme to promote microchip design, 24 projects are being supported, 105 companies have gained access to state-of-the-art design tools, and 23 projects have already completed the development and testing phase in factories, incorporating the very latest manufacturing processes.
At the same time, India is actively implementing its artificial intelligence development mission (IndiaAI) with a budget of over approximately US$1 billion. A national AI infrastructure is being established, including a powerful computing centre with more than 45,000 graphics processing units, which are used to train and run artificial intelligence models. Fifteen large and small language models are being developed for processing speech, text and images.
The national digital data library contains over 12,500 datasets, more than 300 AI models and 20 tools, making resources for AI development accessible to researchers, start-ups and various organisations.
As the authorities note, investment in AI and the semiconductor industry is already transforming the landscape of India’s electronics manufacturing sector. The sector has grown into an industry valued at around US$136.4 billion. Electronics has become India’s third-largest export category.
Other BRICS countries and their partners are also actively developing technologies related to microelectronics, photonics, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors.
China has unveiled a new software platform that helps scientists and engineers use Chinese supercomputers and processors instead of foreign ones. At present, a significant proportion of scientific software relies on foreign technologies and is difficult to port to other hardware. The new system automatically adapts and translates code, speeding up the start of computations and allowing tasks to be formulated in natural language. According to the development team, the success rate of automatic conversion stands at 71 per cent, notes China Daily, a partner of TV BRICS.
Russia has taken a step forward in the development of photonic integrated circuits – a technology that could revolutionise the world of microchips: significantly speeding up data processing, reducing energy consumption and ushering in a new era in the development of AI and telecommunications. The Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, a partner of TV BRICS, has announced the launch of the country’s first production line for such silicon-on-insulator-based chips. Unlike conventional processors, which rely on electrons and generate a great deal of heat, photonic chips use light (photons), so they generate almost no heat and operate more efficiently. They are set to be used in high-speed optical communication systems, sensors and cryptography, reports Crónica Digital, a partner of TV BRICS.
Vietnam has opened its first national centre dedicated to helping develop and test semiconductor microchips. Previously, local companies and universities involved in microchip design were forced to send their designs abroad to produce prototypes. Manufacturing a microchip currently costs between US$30,000 and US$200,000 and takes up to 1–2 years. The new centre will provide a comprehensive infrastructure covering the entire semiconductor development process: from the design and prototyping of microchips to packaging, testing and commercialisation. The centre aims to master cutting-edge semiconductor technologies by 2030, expand international cooperation and establish itself as a leading centre for semiconductor chip prototyping in South-East Asia, reports Vietnam News Agency (VNA), a partner of TV BRICS.
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