Comments
A semiconductor venture from the Zoho group could come up in Odisha with an investment of ₹3,034 crore.
The company - Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing Pvt Ltd - formed by the directors of Zoho in March 2024, plans to establish a silicone carbide manufacturing unit in Khurdha district in Odisha at a cost of ₹3,034 crore.
The proposal was discussed by the Odisha government on Thursday, as per a post on X by Sampad Chandra Swain, MoS (I/C) for Industries, Skill Development and Technical Education, Government of Odisha. Swain said that the Odisha High level Clearance Authority (HLCA) approved 12 major industrial projects and half of the investment out of the ₹39,000 crore has been sanctioned.
The Odisha government has cleared three proposals from the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector and these include Silectric Semiconductor Manufacturing’s proposal for silicon carbide device manufacturing unit.
As per the proposal, Silectric will establish a silicon carbide manufacturing value chain from silicone carbide ingots to wafers to mosfets to modules to modified assembly, marking and packaging facility. The fabrication line will have both captive as well as foundry services model. The unit’s annual capacity will be EPI Wafers - 72,000; mosfets (72,000) and modules (72,000). The company has submitted an application to MeiTY under the Indian Semiconductor Mission. End products will be used as power electronics in segments such EVs, automotive and renewable energy.
Silectric has four directors/key management personnel Navneethan Jai Anand, Radha Vembu, Dandapani Rajendran and Krishnan Ramabadran. These are also directors of Zoho.
In May, Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and CEO of the Chennai/US based Zoho, hinted that the group plans to enter chip-making.
He then said, “Regarding the semiconductor fab news, we are not ready to announce anything yet. All I can say right now is that this technology is vital for our nation and we need companies to step up and make the investment. The government is very supportive and now is the time.”
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu declined to comment on businessline’s queries.
However, separately, in a post on X, he said: “I do not like to comment on rumours and speculation but today’s news item on our semiconductor investment is inaccurate. Our investment proposal is still pending with various authorities and decisions have not yet been made.”
The Odisha venture comes at a time when the Centre is making an ambitious plan to make India a major hub for semiconductors. The Tata Group has already taken the lead, while others such as the Vedanta group have announced plans to enter semiconductor manufacturing.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.