Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is planning to invest more than $300 million to establish a fabless chip company in India.
Speaking at the inaugural Semicon India 2024, Sandeep Kumar, CEO of the newly formed L&T Semiconductor Technologies, said the company plans to design 15 products by the end of 2024 and begin selling them in 2027.
The company also announced it would be partnering with IBM to design advanced processors, which could potentially include processor designs for Edge devices and hybrid cloud systems across several industries, including mobility, industrial, and energy.
L&T Semiconductor Technologies is a fully owned subsidiary of L&T Technology Services, an Indian multinational technology company that provides engineering research and development services.
“This is one of the most exciting times in the history of technology, specifically India's semiconductor tech ecosystem,” said Kumar in a separate statement reported by India’s Economic Times. “Semiconductors are changing how all industries operate and reimagining how conventional architecture is being designed and used. The goal of our work with IBM is to harness our cutting-edge semiconductor design technology and IBM’s advanced processors to forge next-gen technology products.”
Mukesh Khare, GM, IBM Semiconductors, added: “Our collaboration with L&T Semiconductor Technologies would be part of our continued commitment to enhance India’s digital transformation and economic growth through advanced AI processor design and solutions.”
Currently, L&T Semiconductor employs around 250 people, mostly chip designers, but the company is hoping to double that number by the end of 2024.
The Indian government has passed a number of pieces of legislation to boost its domestic semiconductor sector in recent years, including the Modified Programme for Semiconductors and Display Fab Ecosystem, an 828 billion rupee ($10bn) scheme that was authorized in December 2021 which allows companies to apply for up to 50 percent of capital costs for eligible semiconductor and display manufacturing projects.
Earlier this month Israel’s Tower Semiconductor announced it had partnered with Indian conglomerate the Adani Group to invest $10 billion in a semiconductor plant in Maharashtra, India. The proposed fab will create more than 5,000 jobs and, at full capacity, would produce 40,000 wafers per month in Phase 1, increasing to 80,000 per month after Phase 2.
Also this month, Indian Prime Minister Modi signed a MoU with the Singaporean government, pledging that the two countries work together to strengthen their respective semiconductor ecosystems.
The parent L&T group was founded in 1938 and has interests in industrial technology, heavy industry, engineering, construction, manufacturing, power, information technology, military, and financial services.
