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New Delhi: Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has supported India and a cautious, step-by-step plan to develop a native semiconductor manufacturing environment, citing that the strategy of gradual expansion is more sustainable than an extreme focus on advanced technology initially. Since New Delhi is increasingly trying to work on becoming a serious competitor in the worldwide chip supply chain, Tan indicated that concentrating on already proven technologies should enable India to avoid making expensive mistakes.
The thing is, speaking of the strategy of the Intel company and the goals of India, Tan stated that starting with the legacy semiconductor nodes targeting areas like automotive and industrial electronics would enable the country to develop a competence, attract buyers and earn a stable revenue in advance of more advanced processes.
According to Tan, the semiconductor push by India would be served better with a phased roadmap than an abrupt jump towards the most state-of-the-art manufacturing nodes. As he put it, it would be better to start small and grow slowly because there are better chances of profitability in the long term.
Tan advised the Indian government that this would be the proper manner of doing it step by step, then forcing profitability and making cash. “That will be good.”
Encouraging a cautious stance in regard to India, Tan nonetheless pointed out that Intel as a company is still centred on the leading edge of chip production. He claimed that the company was laser focused upon the latest 14A technology, which is the 1.4-nanometre-class process manufactured using the High-NA extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography process by Intel.
The analysts of the semiconductor industry tend to concur with Tan in his evaluation, as they have said that cars, factories and power systems rely on legacy-node fabs. They say that it would be better to learn these technologies initially so that India could see the reliability in the manufacturing base before trying more advanced and capital-intensive advanced nodes.
