Semiconductor announcements during Modi's US visit to create up to 1 lakh direct jobs: MoS IT

New Delhi, June 23 (IANS) The three key announcements in the semiconductor sector during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit will create a minimum 80,000 to 1 lakh direct jobs in India, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here, the Minister said the investments in the semiconductor sector will also help create several thousands indirect jobs in the overall supply chain.

"The electronics industry created 10-12 lakh jobs in the last two years alone. The latest announcements, like by Micron, to make memory chips in India is an important milestone for us. I think there will be at least 80,000 to 1 lakh new direct jobs being created with these initiatives," Chandrasekhar said.

US-based Micron Technology on Thursday announced to set up a new $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and test facility in Gujarat, a day after Modi met Sanjay Mehrotra, the Indian-American President and CEO of Micron, in Washington D.C.

Micron's investment will be up to $825 million over the two phases of the project and will create up to 5,000 new direct Micron jobs and 15,000 community jobs over the next several years.

US-based semiconductor company Applied Materials also announced plans to build a collaborative engineering centre in India with an investment of $400 million over four years.

Lam Research, a US supplier of wafer-fabrication equipment and related services to the semiconductor industry, announced a training programme in India for up to 60,000 high-tech engineers.

"This is just a beginning as there is more to come as India rapidly grows as a significant and trusted partner to global electronics and semiconductor value and supply chain," Chandrasekhar said.

In the last 18 months, after the announcement of semiconductor vision by Prime Minister Modi and the planned investment of Rs 76,000 crore to catalyse and build India's Semicon ecosystem, much progress has been made.

"The announcements during Prime Minister Modi's US visit in the fields of semiconductors, AI, quantum and high-performance computing clearly signal that there will be a lot of opportunities for the youth in India's 'Techade' to work along with US startups and research institutions at a global scale and shape the technology of the future," said the minister.