Maharashtra Govt Approves $10 Billion Proposal By Israel's Tower Semiconductor And Adani Group To Set Up Chip Fabrication Unit In Panvel

The Maharashtra government has approved a joint venture between Israel's Tower Semiconductor and India's Adani Group to build a $10 billion semiconductor factory in Panvel. The facility will produce analog and mixed-signal chips, with initial production capacity of 40,000 wafers per month in Phase 1, scaling up to 80,000 wafers per month in Phase 2.

The semiconductor fab will be set up at Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) Taloja Industrial area. The Industrial area is situated adjacent to Navi-Mumbai and Panvel.

Various leading companies including Halliburton, Schlumberger, Mobis, Beardsell Ltd., S V Tank & Vessel Ltd., Honda Cars operate in the area

Tower Semiconductor, a pure-play foundry, manufactures semiconductor chips for various industries, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, industrial, consumer electronics, and IoT.

With fabs in Israel, the US, and Japan, they offer a range of process technologies, including analog, mixed-signal, and RF processes.

The company focuses on analog and mixed-signal processing technologies, which bridge the gap between analog and digital domains, enabling efficient signal processing and transmission in numerous applications.

They manufacture wafers at various mature nodes, including 150mm, 200mm, and 300mm.

Tower Semiconductor had previously applied to establish a $3 billion semiconductor plant in Karnataka through a partnership with the international consortium, ISMC.

The Tower-ISMC joint venture was one of the first proposals to seek incentives under the $10 billion India Semiconductor Mission, which offers a flat 50 per cent incentive for semiconductor fabrication units, assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP), as well as outsourced assembly and testing units.

However, the plan faced obstacles due to Tower Semiconductor's proposed merger with Intel.

In August last year, Intel abandoned its plan to acquire Tower Semiconductor for $5.4 billion due to regulatory hurdles, particularly from Chinese authorities, and the deal was ultimately called off.

So far, India has five centrally approved semiconductor projects.

A chip fabrication unit is being set up at Dholera in Gujarat, besides four chip packaging units.

Three of the packaging units are being set up at Sanand in Gujarat and one at Morigaon in Assam.

The proposed cumulative investment in these units is Rs 1.50 lakh crore.

The Dholera chip fabrication unit is a joint venture of the Tata Group and Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, with a capacity of 50,000 WSPM.