India's Semiconductor Failure 

I hope you enjoyed the video. Like, subscribe, and all that. And if this stuff interests you, I suggest checking out the Global Semiconductors playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLKtxx9TnH76QEYXdJx6KyycNGHePJQwWW

I didn't know India even had a plan for semiconductor manufacturing.

Replace "Semiconductor" with names of other advanced Industries, and you have a script for why India missed the manufacturing bus entirely.

Bhai there are 3 main business in India 1. Education (coaching exams etc) 2. Weddings 3. Elections

I talked to Indian and Pakistani acquaintances about this before. They told me a good part of the problem is a culture thing. The infamous bureaucracy doesn't understand the semiconductor business and the sacrifices needed to stay on the bleeding edge. Additionally, they are culturally "cheapskates" as they'd like to put it and there is always brain drain as top talent never stays because they're too stingy to pay competitively. As if there's a mindset that everyone is always replaceable. In the most technically demanding fields, this could not be more false.

What timing dude, India and TSMC just had a talk over setting up 7.3 billion USD, semiconductor development plants in India. I think someone watched your video and went like, this is going out of hands 🤣🤣

India has top talent and the capability in almost all major industries. Petty politics, Lack of quality leadership and accountability is the reason for this sad state. Most intelligent people are pushed out of the country because the old guard doesn't want change.

Having started as process engineer in '70s and risen to the highest levels in that area, I know a thing or two about how to get successful fans going. Fires, power interruption etc. etc. are surmountable, but lack of discipline, pettiness, political interference, 'know it all', sycophantic behavior towards anyone who is non-Indian, no pride in one's work, and to make a quick buck are very hard to overcome. Simply put semiconductor manufacturing requires discipline and perseverance. That's the root cause why semiconductor manufacturing has not survived. And if India is to survive in an increasing hostile world, it better get in house semiconductor manufacturing and invest in it for the long haul as if their very existence depends on it

I used to work in America's semiconductor industry and it requires a lot of infrastructure for everything to work properly. We had two massive diesel generators in the event of a power outage because even 5 minutes of down time has the potential to ruin tens of thousands of wafers currently being processed. It's a very delicate process which is why even China still has trouble with manufacturing semiconductors today.

It goes to a larger truth - India sorely missed out on the electronics manufacturing revolution which is what lifted Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia after the WW2. By the time India realised, it was too late. She was always playing catch-up and the economies of scale had already been realized elsewhere. Tough lesson but one to keep in mind.

I still remember how Intel went to Vietnam after dumping bangalore because the lack of speed by our govt officials.It was back in 2005 when i was 15 years old or something. I used to track the events from newspaper and buisness today magazines.Intel setup their sem fab center in Vietnam at a cost of 10 billion $. And because of Intel's entry, Samsung and other electronics companies also came to Vietnam. Today both Intel and Samsung accounts around 60% of the total 220 billion $ exports from vietnam, ie about 130 billion $. It also created around 1 million + jobs.And today India's total export is around 350 billion $. Compare the lost possible exports by Intel and Samsung with our present exports. What a big loss for our country becoz of our incapable buerocracy.

There was Hindustan Semiconductor (Fairchild collaboration) plant in Gujarat in 70s. It manufactured analog components like transistors and LM741 like ICs. This was closed due to some labor strike.

I remember when india and china had that skirmish and those indian "propaganda" videos saying china semicon company will move to india 🤣🤣 what bs at that time

It really shame their is no indian reporter who cover indian plight of semiconductor industry 😭👍🇮🇳

Indian engineers go to philippines for semiconductor related training. I am one of the instructor in training. The problem of indian engineers are they look themselves as a highly educated people that knows everything. Everytime I finished discussing the topic in the training, I asked if they understand the topic. They will reply that they know already the topic that I discussed. I asked them to do it by their selves and none have been finished after 4hrs.I just laughed at them and told that they are in training and not in college. There is no grades in training and if they dont understand, they should asked for clarification.

*IT REALLY MAKES ME SAD THAT WORLD'S LARGEST COUNTRY WITH 1.4 BILLION PEOPLE STILL DON'T HAVE THEIR OWN SEMICONDUCTOR INDUSTRY*

I remember back in the day teaching Indian electronic workers how to fix thru hole mounts, covered by bad soldering, by using a small drill. The next day we found them using a hammer drill. I found that while there's excellent engineers etc, what was really lacking were the skills of the common labourer. Also there was the horrible power grid, with constant brownouts and starting of spare generators. I certainly hope things have improved, because I do have high hopes for India. (This was some 20 years ago)

All talent leave India as soon as they have the opportunity. As long as there is burgeoning problem such as corruption, weak judiciary and law enforcement, unemployment, bureaucracy and lack of political will at the top India’s growth will be at snail pace with major inequality.

I important thing you forgot about the tough sanctions that were placed on India from 1998-2008 after the Nuclear tests of 1998. As a result SCL wasn’t able to acquire critical components from US and EUROPE. The sanctions we so tough that India couldn’t even get SUPER COMPUTERS so we had to make our own from scratch. So after the sanctions were lifted in 2008 SCL was able to restart manufacturing of chips

It is a pity India can't fully utilize so many of their amazing talents I seen and met so many Indian's who are so well versed in their field of study/expertise. But most end up deciding to settle in the countries outside that hired them since they are appreciated there more than their own country.

India's first semiconductor plant install in Gujarat India

Indian companies can spend enormous amounts of money but they need guaranteed gains.

It was government intervention that messed the whole thing up. China started a new project a few years ago and got a veteran from TSMC to head up the building of a new fab. Project tanked.

Vedanta - Foxconn recently made a deal of "$20 Billion" investment.

India’s #1 priority should be focused on building infrastructure within the country.

I remember back in 2015 there was a lot of craze of semiconductor manufacturing to start here but then in 2016 the government of Gujarat said it won't spend money and expected private companies to lead the funding, or something similar and then the whole thing fizzled out. Tata, a month ago once again glared up hopes they want to start to manufacture semiconductors. Let's see how that one works ago.

It's an immense tragedy. To imagine India could have housed Fairchild !! I hope someone from the government sees this.

India has not failed, it has not tried hard enough. Chance is always there.

MOU signed between US and India for Semi conductors yesterday 😁

I didn't know India came this close

8:00 It took EIGHT YEARS to reopen after the fire. That shows a massive lack of urgency. You can’t run any business, if it can’t recover from setbacks.

India is an agrarian country and its economy mostly depends on agriculture. We are henceforth a little behind in various technological fields

Who is here after Foxconn - Vedanta's $20 bn investment in India to set up Semiconductor Manufacturing Plant. 😂

As an Electronics and Communication Engineering student, this is really heartbreaking

In India Vedanta and Foxconn JV had started to build a semiconductor Manifacturing plant in State of Gujarat and it may take 3 yrs to complete that fab.... lets see how things go by wrt semiconductors manufacturing in India. Btw thank you Asianometry for wonderful insights

this has been your most watched video given it keeps popping on my feed every day.Nice to see your channel growing.Also i have been seeing your channel getting posted on one of my subreddits after i recommend your video once.

I didn't even know we did anything related to semiconductors

It seems semiconductor manufacturing tech is so insanely difficult and ultra expensive that it's even a miracle that any country can have a self sustaining semiconductor industry. Even the US has sold out most of it's semiconductor industry to Taiwan and South Korea in hopes of leveraging scale of efficiencies and cost savings. Just one single CPU generation costs billions and billion of dollars just to tool up for. It's crazy.

The more i learn about my Country the earlier i want to leave it..😔😔

Also as someone that has worked in the semicon industry before, a lot of their procedures require extreme cleanliness ie no dust. Now maybe that plays a factor

After 2 days of uploading this video India made a deal with Taiwan worth $7.5 billion for semiconductor manufacturing.

It breaks my heart to know that India imports worth about INR 2.0 Lakh crore (US$ 25-27 billion) every year whereas tiny nations like Taiwan, Korea etc. have the capability to manufacture and we don't.

Indian smartphone mobile brands also failed. Only some feature and kaios phone maybe hanging on

According to many indians, india cannot fail and is already a superpower lol :p

If you want something said, ask India. If you want something done, ask China. - Maitreya Bhakal

8:24 Thats what I'd like to call the Indian Experience. Losing progress is kindof our thing. Smart/driven people suffocating under a dysfunctional ideology driven system.

India is generally in failure mode 1. Delta variant 2. Unsafe armed forces 3. Caste system obsolete

Their mission to Mars was impressive. Wonder why they don't go down to explore. Same as moon

I was surprised to hear one fire accident would destroy the entire semi-conductor industry? It does not sound convincing enough for me. Even in those days, chip companies would have multi-sites with backup operations and expertises exactly for this kind of eventualities.

Indian government wasted too many opportunities

They need to learn the technology prowess to invent toilets first for the majority of the population still using the out doors like...

TSMC just withdrew from the deal because of endless delays and low discipline workers

That was a really interesting video. Thank you. RU-vid algorithm is working 👍

India didn't signed NPT...so foreign companies cannot transfer higher semiconductor technologies to indian companies....similar restrictions for nuclear, aerospace, super computers, critical software..... Funny thing is....many Indians working in these fields in other countries

as an Indian watching this and comparing with the investment of $15.2 billion to set up three semiconductor plants in the country including its first fab unit, to be built by Tata Group in collaboration with Taiwan-based company seems like kids trying to get into the college lol

Nothing to gloat about failures. Failure is not end of the story. It's the first step to success

What's funny about the BBC Acorn is that that is the computer that ARM was invented for.

12:49 I wonder why Indian had customs duty on fab equipment? Typically such duties are to protect domestic makers of such equipment. Which don't exist in India, I believe?

My colleague and close friend at Intel was one of the key people hired by SCL in the 80's to spearhead its operations. Prior to that, he was a professor of Electronics at IIT Bombay. He eventually left SCL precisely because of the lack of motivation and drive, and complacency, that most Government units of that era suffered from. He eventually joined Intel India in 2004 (where we first met and worked together for a number of years on various technologies). It was because of him that I came to know of India's forays into semiconductors, of SCL and its demise.

Indian here. I have visited BEL vlsi plant. Some above old abive 100nm stuff for legacy support. Failed to bring. Private home grown players

Fundamentally, the failure was built in at conception. Instead of removing barriers and bureaucracy to the private sector, the government decided to get into the business itself, like it did before, making light bulbs, tractors, watches, telephones and telephone exchanges and on and on to disastrous effect.

Indian government and TSMC are in talks to bring manufacturing to India. Let’s see if this will work out.

When was the last time that India produced something delicate and advance?

India's semiconductor complex was indeed limited.

15:48 correction- second largest phone assembler not manufacturer we don't have any proper supply chains related to manufacturing of consumer electronics.

The most common reason for fab fire is improper waste disposal

Now india getting a semiconductor industry setup

There is no shortage of smart and talented people in India. But Indian political leadership sucks because they are a Democracy. Like all Democracies, the masses of idiots will always vote for stupid leaders who talk well, but can't deliver on anything. That's why most of India's best and brightest will leave the country. Thomas Sowell summed it up like this: "Indians will succeed everywhere, except India."

Really liked this video. As a commentator has said "replace semiconductor with any manufacturing technology" , and you have India. I recently returned from New York to join my dad's business in electrical manufacturing. I had this "H1B visa", a cushy job and an opportunity to live in the best city in the world. Period. But I decided to come back to Bangalore to innovate in soft starter manufacturing. However, there are MAJOR issues with the infrastructure in the industrial area where I'm at (Peenya). There's the worst roads, garbage strewn around, and worst, erratic electrical supply. Some of this might not be related to production per se, but hey, no one likes to walk to the nearby canteen getting covered in mud, or have your bed blown off trying to navigate the nth crater on the road. And it sucks to have to pay for your own electricity when the BESCOM power just tanks due to one drop of rain. Unfortunately, all cries for help fall on deaf ears since no one lives in an industrial area.... And hence no votes for the MLA to care about. Unfortunate perverse incentives at play. Talent isn't too bad though, although many candidates I interviewed had poor vocational skills having gone to a shoddy institute run by an entrepreneur politician. Long story short, the infra and setup in India and Bangalore in particular, was always anti-manufacturing. It's amazing the sheer will mine and my fellow companies have in running their firms in an area which looks worse than war-time Kabul. It's no surprise then that IT came to Bangalore and India, and continues to drive the start up revolution. There was no regulation, smart talent, availability of computers, and ironically, no help from government needed. As a result, IT drove most of India's growth, employing tens of thousands, and millions later. It was IT that got the dudes in Gurgaon and Bangalore to build these (private) tech parks, and got the fancy pubs and restaurants in these places. Even now, parts of Whitefield have Singapore like infra inside, with Badlapur like outside. However, I do feel that times are changing and there are reasons to be happy. For all its ills, this present government is doing a good job in investing in road infrastructure, and our highways have tremendously improved. There's more and more amazing and daring talent coming out and cities like Bangalore/Gurgaon, and are resulting in amazing entrepreneurs like Bhavish Agrawal drive the EV revolution. Recently Tata has decided to enter the EV market full scale and are investing in semiconductor technology too. Long story short, I am cautiously optimistic of India IN. JAI HIND 🙏

TATA is stepping into semiconductor manufacturing, finally a good sign!!

Dont know enough of India, but often hear that bureaucracy is a huge problem in India.

Damn... they were so close, but for this stupid fire.

I remember this quite well when I used to live in India. Unfortunately the foundation of this enterprise was handed to government bureaucrats and of course it failed.

India need not despair, as someone who is an engineering graduate in the US, you will be suprise how many indian research scientist working in the US such as IBM, Bell Labs, etc. What India need to do is to offer these indian researcher better grants to entice them back to India. Like TSMC founder, indians has as many chance to built one by riding on US knowhow and funding.

Can't manufacture chips in a dusty environment

A very accurate analysis of this very important issue... As an Indian, I do feel that we need to focus on this issue a lot more than others coz the future of technology lies there... & So does the future of India & Many thanks for you huge efforts & making it so easily understandable...

Today India signed +7 bn $ semiconductor manufacturing facility w/ Taiwan.

I go to an Indian high school (my father was born in India), and now I'm working as an engineer in the US. This is purely based on my opinion, no offense is meant by this comment my brother Most of us(Indian) can only say things in theory, concept and etc, we're just memorizing a lot of things, not try to make a new things. We have to change this guys, I think the main reason for this is our education system (you see, most of JEE or IIT test is to measure how well you memorize a lot of formula, yes the question is very hard, but just be honest, most of you have seen that question so many times in prep school, also you've remembered how to do it in only 2 steps with magic formula). THIS IS WRONG, you have to try to fully comprehend it.. that's what makes Europe/US manufacturing is much better than us despite the easier college entry exam problem. The mindset is just different and this has to change. Stop memorizing, stop theorizing, start to create a real good product. You're an engineer my friend, not a theoretical scientist.

well, now we got 1 semiconductor plant in Gujrat worth $20 billion and second will come up in Maha in phase 2 and 1 in karnatka and 2 in tamilnadu talk are at final stage you should make an updated video

Major reason for failure was that insufficient salaries to the higher personal. No engg. Wants to spend his life on a work that won't even give him anything in return. It's sad really, no wonder every good engg and iit grads leave this country . Rule 1. Of a business is fair compensation and proper employee treatment which clearly India use to lack. It still do but not as bad as before

Just today i got the news that Taiwan's TSMC is going to invest 7.5 BILLION DOLLARS for setting up SEMICONDUCTOR FACTORIES..i hope Indian govt get the requisite expertise and Try to promote indigenous SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING Players to step up and ultimately HELP INDIA BECOME SELF-RELIANT!! LOVE AND RESPECT FROM INDIA 🇮🇳 SIR!

6:30 in 1982 the bbc micro even had its own tv show to go along with it, called "the computer programme". in 2006 it was the inspiration for the raspberry pi.

Beautifully presented. Very comfortable listening. Love it.

Really nice work, Im learning a lot with your videos. Cheers from Colombia!

Thanks for the informative video. I'm an indian and i work in SoC design for a US company. Good to know that atleast we tried to enter the race.

Such a Sad Story How the Whole World would be So Different Now if India Had Succeeded

India - we will over promise but always under deliver.

How about not involve the government in this at all, along with eliminating all tariffs on machinery and raw material.

Spoiler alert!!! Few days back i did a thorough research regarding India’s quest for semiconductor fabs and the first attempt was made in 2006 by a group of US based NRIs named “SemIndia” which was failed. Again another attempt was made around 2013-14 named HSMC and Jayprakash Associates but again failed as both the companies failed to provide requisite documents as per LoI even after several extensions.

I have worked with Indians engineers when Ericssons was still manufacturing in Australia. They are very smart individuals. Just like the Chinese, they think outside the squares.

good video as always, love the background stories presented, so fun to watch.....

One of most valuable videos on youtube. I always wondered why india failed at semiconductor fabrication

So many flammable things in a fab lab. My favorite, and one I depended on heavily, silane. It’s in a class of materials called pyrophoric. Meaning it ignites when exposed to atmosphere! Fun times, glad I now design chips instead of make them.

Well this has changed Taiwan's TSMC just pledged 7.5 Billion USD to start a chip foundry in India.

India announced $10B USD incentives for semiconductor manufacturing which is 76000 CR INR.

All this painstaking research is commendable, well done.

It’s wonderful to listen to you. While most analysis have fallen down to low grade exhibitions, the topic you choose as well as the objective presentation is highly commendable and informative. Thank you for your critical work.

Informative, yes we missed the semiconductor revolution in the 80's and it is hard to get back. Many southeast Asian countries made use of it and are top players now.I too live in Taiwan !!

Hello, Can you share the links to the ressources you used to prepare this video? Thanks

The cow dung theory is in full swing. It has hit the ceiling fans.