The Maharashtra Cabinet’s special committee on Thursday approved a major investment proposal amounting to Rs 83,947 crore ($10 billion) for a joint venture between Tower Semiconductor and the Adani Group. The JV is set to develop a semiconductor chip manufacturing facility in Taloja, Panvel, according to a statement made by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on X (formerly known as Twitter).
This upcoming plant, situated in Navi Mumbai’s Raigad district, will initially have the capacity to produce 40,000 wafer starts per month (WSPM) in its first phase. Eventually, the facility aims to double its output to 80,000 WSPM. Of the total investment, Rs 58,763 crore will be dedicated to the project’s first phase, while Rs 25,184 crore is earmarked for the second phase, as detailed by Fadnavis.
While the Maharashtra government has given its nod, the project is still awaiting approval from the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and the Ministry of IT. The Economic Times reported that the joint application submitted by Tower Semiconductor, an Israeli firm, and the Adani Group is currently under review, with no official comments yet from either party.
India’s Growing Semiconductor Sector
Should the project proceed, it will become India’s second chip manufacturing unit and the sixth semiconductor-related facility focusing on manufacturing, testing, or packaging silicon chips. Earlier this week, the Union Cabinet greenlit a Rs 3,307 crore proposal for an outsourced assembly and testing (OSAT) unit by Kaynes Semicon, based in Mysore. This new unit will be set up in Sanand, Gujarat, and is expected to produce 6.3 million chips daily.
India already has five semiconductor projects that have been approved by the government. A chip fabrication plant is currently under construction in Dholera, Gujarat, while four chip packaging facilities are in the works. Three of these packaging units are located in Sanand, Gujarat, and one is being established in Morigaon, Assam. These projects represent a collective investment of Rs 1.5 trillion. The Dholera fabrication facility is a joint venture between the Tata Group and Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, with a planned capacity of 50,000 WSPM.
