Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC) recently announced that the company has forged its partnership with India's Tata Electronics to set up the country's first 12-inch wafer fab, as reported by Commercial Daily News on September 27. Under the agreement, PSMC will support Tata in building the fab in Dholera, Gujarat, India, by transferring its 12-inch process technology and training Indian workers. With an anticipated investment of USD 11 billion, the new fab is set to begin construction this year, aiming to churn out 50,000 12-inch wafers per month upon completion. The new fab is to manufacture chips for applications such as power management ICs, display driver ICs, microcontrollers and high-performance computing chips. These products have increasingly high demand in the automotive, computing and data storage, wireless communications, and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors. 

Simultaneously, India is making strides toward establishing a local semiconductor value chain through a strategic partnership with the US. In a separate initiative, the US and India agreed to collaborate on setting up a semiconductor fabrication plant specializing in advanced infrared, gallium nitride, and silicon carbide chips. This venture, supported by the India Semiconductor Mission, involves Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech Inc, and the US Space Force. 

Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor fab, continues to position Taiwan as a major powerhouse in the industry. The shipment value of Taiwan's semiconductor sector is projected to reach NT$4.76 trillion (USD 150.7 billion) in 2024, a year-on-year growth of 21.3%, higher than the global average, according to the Taipei-based Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC). This growth is driven largely by the recovery of mainstream ICT products.