Semiconductor Sub-Committee

In News

• Recently, India and the U.S. agreed to form a semiconductor sub-committee during the relaunched India-U.S. Commercial Dialogue.

About

• The Semiconductor Sub-Committee is part of India-US efforts to  increase private-sector cooperation in the area of semiconductors  with a view to reducing their dependence on China and Taiwan. 
• It is led by the Department of Commerce for the US side and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the Indian side.
• Setting up of the Semiconductor Sub-Committee comes after India and US signed an  MoU to build a resilient supply chain in the semiconductor sector.
• The MoU aims to leverage the complementary strengths of both countries and facilitate commercial opportunities and the development of semiconductor innovation ecosystems through discussions on various aspects of the semiconductor value chain.

Significance

• Semiconductors are the building blocks of almost every modern electronic device from smartphones to connected devices in the Internet of Things (IoT).
• The chip-making industry is a highly-concentrated one, with the big players being Taiwan, the U.S. and China. 
• The global chip shortage coupled with the U.S.-China tensions over Taiwan, and the supply chain blockages owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict have made major economies realise the importance of the chip-making sector.

Indian initiatives

• In 2021, the MeitY  launched the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme to nurture at least 20 domestic companies involved in semiconductor design 
• India has also launched the Scheme for Promotion of Manufacturing of Electronic Components and Semiconductors (SPECS) for manufacturing electronic components and semiconductors.
• India  announced an outlay of Rs 76,000 crore (around $10 billion), under  the PLI scheme for the development of a semiconductor and display manufacturing electronics ecosystem.

Source: TH