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Tata Electronics is making India’s first semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, but perhaps less well-known is the fact that it invested in Singapore-based semiconductor startup Silicon Box on January 9.
It was one of the companies which participated in Silicon Box’s series B fund raise valued at $200 million which has helped it become an unicorn.
Tata Electronics spokesperson declined to comment.
Silicon Box specialises in chiplet technology which is considered an advance over traditional chip making. Its investors include UMC, Japanese electronics group TDK, Lam Research, Praesidium Capital, and Grandfull Convergence Fund.
According to Crunchbase, the company has raised over $407.6 million till now through four founding rounds and has 15 investors.
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Earlier this week, Silicon Box announced that it will be investing $3.6 billion in setting up a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Italy to make chips for AI, electric vehicles, and high performance computing.
The Italian government will provide it with support and the news coincides with Italy walking out of the Chinese Belt & Road Agreement.
Italy’s efforts to woo Intel to the country have failed. The plant is expected to generate 1600 direct jobs and many other indirect ones.
Silicon Box was founded in 2021 by the couple — Dr Sehat Sutardja and Weili Dai — that founded the Marvell Technology Group. The CEO, Han Byung Joon, was formerly CEO of STATS ChipPAC. Dr Sutardja and Han collectively have 800 patents under their names in a collaboration spanning 20 years.
The chiplet concept was first introduced by Dr Sutardja at a conference in 2015. Han is the inventor of semiconductor packaging solutions to enable chiplets through advanced packaging.
Silicon Box specialises in advanced chiplet technology which is more efficient than traditional semiconductor manufacturing. Chiplets improve the performance of processors, give better yields, provide more design flexibility, and offer improved thermal management which is particularly needed for sub 5 micron chips.
However, some experts say the technology is more complex and expensive to produce.
Silicon Box’s $2 billion foundry in Singapore is spread across 73,000 metres.
Last November, Tata Electronics bought Wistron and in doing so became one of three vendors who assemble iPhones in India. It also makes iPhone casing at its Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu.
