Cabinet approves Semicon 2.0 for India's Semiconductor Ecosystem

📌 Summary:

• Union Cabinet approved Semicon 2.0 with a total outlay of Rs 1,27,500 crore to develop India's semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem, building on the momentum of ISM/Semicon 1.0
• Built on six pillars: (1) Design — deepen chip design ecosystem (105 startups already designing chips, focus on developing IPs); (2) Machines & Materials — incentivise manufacturing of equipment, chemicals and gases; (3) Fabs — attract silicon, compound semiconductor, discrete and display fabs (first fab to be commissioned in 2028); (4) ATMP/OSAT — advanced packaging and testing units; (5) R&D — move from 28nm–110nm nodes to more advanced nodes; (6) Talent — 315 universities and ~68,000 students already trained on EDA tools
• ISM 1.0 progress: 12 manufacturing units approved with cumulative investment over Rs 1.64 lakh crore (1 silicon fab, 1 silicon carbide fab, 1 integrated GaN Micro-LED display fab, 9 packaging units)
• Aims at supply-chain resilience, national security and technological leadership in critical sectors

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Science & Technology (indigenisation, emerging tech), economic growth and strategic autonomy in critical technologies

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Semicon 2.0 outlay: Rs 1,27,500 crore
• Six pillars: Design, Machines & Materials, Fabs, ATMP/OSAT, R&D, Talent
• ATMP = Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging; OSAT = Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test
• First fab under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) to be commissioned in 2028

🔑 Key Term: ATMP/OSAT — the back-end semiconductor processes of assembling, packaging, marking and testing fabricated chips before commercial use.