US Semiconductor Industry Association, India’s IESA to form new task force to strengthen chip ecosystem

The US Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) plan to strengthen public-private collaboration in the chip ecosystem by forming a private-sector task force. This partnership will strengthen collaboration between the two countries in the global semiconductor ecosystem. In April 2022, the two groups signed a memorandum of understanding to foster collaboration and identify potential opportunities between the two countries in the semiconductor sector. 

This collaboration is among the many new bilateral initiatives between the governments, industry and academia to expand and deepen technology partnership under Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). This is a U.S.-India initiative to elevate and expand strategic technology partnerships and industrial cooperation between the governments, businesses, and academic institutions of the two countries. 
  
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State Electronics & Technology and a former Chip Designer tweeted on this collaboration, stating that the two largest and oldest democracies in world partnering to elevate strategic Tech partnership is good for future of Tech and innovation.  

2 largest n oldest democracies in world partnering to elevate strategic Tech partnership is good for future of Tech n innovation 🇮🇳🇺🇸

Imp milestone in PM @narendramodi ji's vision of #IndiaTechade for young Indians#NewIndia #NewIndia4YoungIndia https://t.co/XrIglUTvmT

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) February 1, 2023

Acknowledging India to be a major hub for semiconductor research, chip design, and equipment engineering, with even greater future potential, SIA President and CEO John Neuffer said, “We are thrilled to kick off this new initiative with IESA, our counterpart in India. This task force will help identify tangible ways to unlock this potential by increasing collaboration between the U.S. and India within the global chip ecosystem.” 
 
While not many details have been shared, the task force will focus on developing a “readiness assessment” regarding the semiconductor ecosystem in India. It will facilitate assembling industry, government, and academic stakeholders to identify near-term industry opportunities and facilitate the longer-term strategic development of complementary semiconductor ecosystems. It will also make recommendations on opportunities and challenges to increase India’s role within the global semiconductor value chain, including chip manufacturing. The task force will also Identify and facilitate workforce development and exchange opportunities to benefit both countries. 
 
“IESA is excited to be part of this new taskforce in partnership with SIA,” said IESA President and CEO Krishna Moorthy. “It will be an important platform to bring together global resources to identify actionable plans to support India to increase its presence in the world-wide chip industry and then enable global collaboration to execute the plans across all segments of the design and manufacturing supply chain, as well as creating semiconductor talent for the world.” 
 
To emerge as a semiconductor nation, India, in the first phase has announced a Rs 76,000 crore semiconductor scheme for the setting up of semiconductor and display fabs along with the chip ecosystem.