Centre ready to help set up Fab City

The Central government is willing to help a state which comes forward to set up a 1,500-acre 'Fab City', a complex with supporting units around a semiconductor fabrication plant, with the necessary infrastructure facilities.

Madhavan Nambiar, additional secretary, ministry of communication and Information Technology said: "The proposal to set up a fab city is with Dayanidhi Maran and it will be great if a state comes forward."

He was speaking at a discussion organised by the Indian Semiconductor Association at Bangalore IT.in. P G R Sindhia, minister for finance, industries and commerce, government of Karnataka said that Karnataka was prepared to grasp the opportunity. He added that the incubation centre by STPI for start-up companies will be ready by December.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the new SEZ policy, he said that there is a need for product specific SEZ. "The very large scale integration (VLSI) segment of the semiconductor industry is very strong but India is lacking in indigenous companies like Cadence or Synopsys who make design tools for the industry," Sindhia added.

To compete with China and Taiwan, India needed the whole cycle of manufacturing and therefore a fab was important.

With the consumer electronics market growing rapidly, the customer base for the semiconductor industry is also increasing.

With high consumption and growth in designing, the Indian market is expected to be worth $40 billion.