As India is eager to attract investments from global manufacturers, Micron is reportedly looking to apply for India's semiconductor incentive scheme to set up an ATMP plant.
Business Standard, citing a top Indian government official, reported that India is close to approving Micron's proposal to set up an ATMP facility with an investment of about US$1 billion. However, Micron did not reply to Business Standard's request for comment.
Suppose the report is credible, and Micron, which announced a US$150 billion investment plan to build more fabs, may change its mind to diversify its manufacturing from places with more geopolitical risks. According to an earlier report by The Economic Times, Micron said it was continuing to assess investment opportunities, but the company had yet to make any decision (to invest in India).
According to the website, Micron has manufacturing locations in the US, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and China.
India launched an INR760 billion (US$92 billion) semiconductor and display fabs incentive scheme in December 2021 and won applications from dozens of companies. Despite the Indian government's focus on attracting investments in wafer fabs, experts believe starting with ATMP and OSAT business is more feasible. India's incentive scheme provides financial support of 50% of the project cost on a pari-passu basis and covers four areas, including wafer fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors and packaging, and IC design.
Compared with wafer fab, which may cost over US$3 billion to build, it requires less than US$1 billion to set up an ATMP/OSAT facility, besides a shorter timeframe to recover the capital expenditure.
Besides Micron's rumored ATMP facility, several companies had forayed into the ATMP/OSAT business in India, including Tata, Sahasra, and Visicon, while four companies, including SPEL Semiconductor, HCL, Syrma Technology, and Valenkani Electronics, proposed to set up their ATMP/OSAT facilities in India and are still waiting for approval from India's central government.
