- Friday, May 09, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S Tata Group is in talks with three South Indian states to invest up to $300 million (£225 million) to build a semiconductor assembly and test unit, two informed sources said. The plan is part of the conglomerate’s push into high-tech manufacturing, Reuters said in an exclusive report.
Tata is reportedly talking to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana and looking for land for the outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant, the sources said on the condition of anonymity.
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Tata had previously said that it was planning to enter the semiconductor business but this was the first time news about the group’s planned foray into the sector and the scale to which it is being planned has been reported.
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An OSAT plant packages, assembles and tests foundry-made silicon wafers, making finished semiconductor chips out of them.
Tata has already looked at some potential venues for the factory, one of the sources said, adding that the final location was likely to be finalised by December.
“While they (Tata) are very strong on the software side of things … hardware is something they want to add to their portfolio, which is very critical for long-term growth,” the source said.
Neither Tata Group nor the three southern states responded to Reuters’ request for remarks on the matter.
The semiconductor push by Tata, which took over Air India recently, will give a boost to Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ drive for electronics manufacturing, which has already helped turn India into the second-biggest maker of smartphones in the world.
The factory is likely to begin operations in late 2022 and could employ up to 4,000 workers, one of the sources said, adding availability of cost-effective skilled labour was key to the project’s long-term viability.
“Once Tata starts, the ecosystem will come around … So it’s very critical to find the right place from a labour standpoint,” the source said, according to Reuters.
Tata is already setting up a high-tech electronics manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu.
