Biden, Modi announce Indian wafer fab to supply US defence

News | September 23, 2024

By Peter Clarke

US President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Modi have praised a decision to establish a wafer fab in India to supply defense ICs.

The fab, to be built in 2025, is called Shakti and will rsult from a strategic partnership between Indian defense company Bharat Electronics, Indian image sensor startup 3rdiTech and the US Space Force, according to a briefing document issued by the White House.

The chips will have applications in advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next generation telecommunications, and green energy applications.

The document said: “The fab, which will be established with the objective of manufacturing infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors, will be enabled by support from the India Semiconductor Mission as well as a strategic technology partnership between Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the US Space Force.”

No details were provided of the location, the funding budget or the scale of the wafer fab in terms of wafer starts per month.

At the same meeting Biden and Modi praised GlobalFoundries’ creation of the Kolkata Power Center in Kolkata, India, that is intended to create networks for R&D into the design and manufacturing of low-power chips. The briefing document said the national leaders were aware of GlobalFoundries’ plans to explore manufacturing and technology partnerships with India to create jobs in both countries.

3rdiTech

The startup, 3rdiTech, was founded in 2018 as an Indian operation by Vrinda Kapoor (CEO) and Vinayak Dalmia (Head of strategy) and is now headquartered in Berkeley, California. The company is designing a variety of CMOS image sensors. Technologies include guidance control, night vision riflescopes, laser range finders and automobile surround view cameras.

3rdiTech is reportedly in collaboration with US defence contractor General Atomics on a series of defence technology projects.