Suchi semicon plans $100 mn investment into OSAT plant in Gujarat

The company has planned the project in five phases. In the first phase, starting in November this year, it will focus on creating chips that will power legacy devices

Surat-based semiconductor manufacturing company Suchi Semicon on Wednesday announced to invest $100 million in its Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing (OSAT) plant, which will be Gujarat’s first such unit to start rolling out semiconductors in November this year.

The investment will be made over the next three to five years.

Spread in an initial area of 30,000 square feet, the upcoming facility in Gujarat’s Surat district will have the capacity to produce up to 3 million chips per day, and will feature advanced Class 10,000 and 100,000 cleanroom environments, according to the company. 

The company has been approved under Gujarat state semiconductor policy and has submitted its proposal under the India Semiconductor Mission. 

 

“From the day of start of its operations in November, the facility will be capable of producing 200,000 pieces a day,” said Shetal Mehta, Co-founder, Suchi Semicon. 

Talking to Business Standard, Mehta said that for now the company intends to focus on scaling the OSAT facility further, and hinted at a possibility of entering into semiconductor designing in the future. 

“We would want to focus on OSAT operations, and since design is India's strong point, we could get into designing as well. And this is also if the customer requires it,” he said.

On the possibility of entering into semiconductor fabs, Mehta said, “In fabrication at the moment, I feel there is still time for the ecosystem to develop in India. There are major players coming in, we will let them establish first. For now, we will stick to OSAT and packaging at the moment.”

The facility will create up to 1,200 jobs and focus on advanced semiconductor assembly and testing, and the firm has collaborated with Gujarat Technological University and Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, to develop a skilled workforce for the sector. 

For training the workforce in the required skill set, Suchi Semicon has hired professionals from other countries, said Mehta. 

“We have hired professionals from outside India to come to India to develop this technology to train people in India. And then we can take it forward from here,” he added.

The company has planned the project in five phases and in the first phase starting November this year, it will focus on creating chips that’ll power legacy devices. 

“Legacy devices go into consumer electronics. These are devices that you will see any and everywhere when you start the day and when you move across. So, this is the starting point. However, we would want to, in phase two, phase three, to get into power devices and advanced chips,” Mehta explained.