The India Semiconductor Association (ISA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SEMI) that reinforces ISA and SEMI goals of supporting the semiconductor-related ecosystem in India and expands the relationship to include photovoltaic manufacturing. The agreement also lays the groundwork for exchange of market information and membership benefits between the respective associations. SIA also announced several major solar investments in India, marking a major shift in emphasis to solar technology.

Speaking at the ISA Vision Summit in Bangalore on February 18, Stan Myers, president and CEO of SEMI said, "SEMI has a long history of promoting the global expansion of semiconductor manufacturing, and now in solar. The potential industry development in India is of interest to our members, and this partnership will encourage and enable the membership of both associations to take advantage of combined resources and establish strong collaborative relationships."

Poornima Shenoy, president, ISA, said, "India has the innate potential to become a strategic and world-class manufacturing hub. SEMI also has an increasing focus on the solar photovoltaic space which is emerging as a sector of importance in India. Our organizations have come together to combine our mutual strengths to build upon it."

Last year, the India cabinet approved incentives to attract foreign investment to the semiconductor sector, including manufacturers of semiconductors, displays and solar technologies. The government announced it will bear 20 per cent of capital expenditures in the first 10 years if a unit is located within Special Economic Zones (SEZs), including major economic zone in Hyderabad called “Fab City”. The minimum investment was set at 25 billion rupees ($566 million) for semiconductor manufacturers and 10 billion rupees for other micro- and nanotechnology makers. With theses recent announcements, the solar industry has been the chief beneficiary of this incentive-based economic policy.

The recent announcements have the Indian government approving five companies to take part in projects in Fab City, all focused on solar energy. These include: India-based Titan Energy Systems Ltd. proposing an investment of $50 million in solar photovoltaic cells; NanoTech Silicon India with an investment of $2.1 billion to manufacture thin film solar cell fab; India-based XL Telecom & Energy Ltd., which is investing $76.25 million to set up a unit for solar cells and solar modules; KSK Energy Ventures Ltd. (Hyderabad, India) a venture capital fund that plans to set up a unit for solar photovoltaic panels with an investment of $70.25 million; and the Indian subsidiary of the Canada-based Embedded IT Solutions is planning to set up a PCB manufacturing project with an investment of $5 million.

Earlier Hyderabad-based Solar Semiconductor Ltd. said it would be investing $1.1 billion over a 10-year period to cover manufacture of solar cells and solar panels. The second phase is set to focus on solar thin film technology while the third would scale up manufacturing capacity to one gigawatt per annum.

Funding has also been provided to five other Indian companies including Chandradeep Solar (R&D Unit) Neotech Solutions (solar cells and modules), Photon Energy Systems Limited for Silicon Wafers (solar cells and modules), Surana Ventures (solar cells and modules) and RamTerra Solar Pvt. Ltd (solar modules).

Among other companies investing in India and PV are PV Technologies India Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Moser Baer India Limited. They have signed a MoU to secure supply of critical equipment for a 565 MW phased expansion of its Thin Film photovoltaic modules manufacturing capacity, which together with the current project capacity of 40 MW will take the total manufacturing capacity to over 600 MW by 2010.

India is already a major contributor to the global technology market. According to Frost & Sullivan, semiconductor and embedded design revenues are expected to grow from $3.2 billion in 2005 to $43 billion by 2015. The India semiconductor market is expected to grow from $2.82 billion in 2005 to $ 36.3 billion in 2015. Electronics manufacturing is estimated to reach $155 billion in 2015, creating a $15.5 billion semiconductor market opportunity. With these recent announcements, India can also be expected to join the leaders in the global photovoltaic market.

SEMI has several member companies with operations (mostly design) in India and many others are active in the India market through partners and representatives. ISA Members who are also SEMI Members include Alcatel Vacuum Technology, Applied Materials, Edwards, KLA-Tencor, and Novellus

This article was prepared with information from EE Times and the EFY News Network