Setting up a semi-conductor fab plant: Will India be third time lucky?

The government hopes to learn from two failed attempts in 2007 and 2013 to attract fab manufacturers to India but it's up against some stiff challenges

The time for India to attract semi-conductor fab manufacturers never looked better. There is a major global chip shortage owing to the unprecedented demand surge from electronics and auto companies as the pandemic had initially started easing around the world. Adding to the shortage are US-China trade tensions.

According to IC Insights, a US-based semi-conductor market research company, leading chip manufacturers such as TSMC, Intel and Samsung are collectively investing over $130 billion this year just to set up new plants across the world, a 14 per cent increase over last year.

A large part of this additional investment will