India’s Zoho pitches to make compound semiconductors
Software-focused Zoho is the latest Indian company looking for government support to help it move into the semiconductor sector, according to a Reuters report.
Zoho Corp. (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) offers software and online subscription services in competition to the likes of Microsoft and Salesforce. The company has submitted a proposal to the Indian government to invest about US$700 million to manufacture compound semiconductors. The proposal is being considered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the country’s US$10 billion semiconductor subsidy scheme, according to Reuters.
Compound semiconductors are used for a number of specialized functions such as optoelectronics and power. The classical compound semiconductor GaAs and variants there of has been complemented in recent years by SiC and GaN used for power semiconductors and with extensive use in electric vehicles and elsewhere.
Reportedly Zoho has identified a technology partner to help set up the operation, but has not named the firm. Having an experienced technical partner that knows how to lay-out and run the chip manufacturing flow is essential. One aspect of this is the need for cross-licence patent protection. The ministry has also asked for more information from Zoho on who its customers will be, the report said.
India’s subsidy scheme, first announced in 2021 has been slow to produce results. Tata Group is one Indian conglomerate that has seen its project receive a green light (see Tata will get 70 percent subsidy for Gujurat fab, says PSMC chair). However, support for the Tata project may soak up most of the government’s support.
Compound semiconductor chips are not as highly miniaturised as logic chips which means that set up and onging manufacturing costs can be considerably lower than for leading-edge silicon.
In March Sridhar Vembu, the founder and CEO of privately held Zoho, said he was planning a chip design project but did not mention chip manufacturing. Zoho has more than 15,000 employees and had annual revenue of more than US$1 billon in the financial year ended in March 2023.
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Report: India plans US$10 billion semiconductor subsidy
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