SUMMARY
- Tata Electronics has sent hundreds of engineers and technicians to Taiwan for hands-on semiconductor manufacturing training.
- The move is part of Tata’s ₹91,000 crore fab in Gujarat and ₹27,000 crore OSAT facility in Assam, which aim to create 47,000–50,000 jobs.
- Training cohorts include fresh graduates and experienced engineers working closely with Taiwanese partner PSMC.
- With seasoned global executives leading the charge, Tata is crafting not just a factory—but an ecosystem.
When 27-year-old Shreyas Mehta boarded his first international flight to Taiwan last month, he wasn’t traveling for a vacation or a degree. The mechanical engineer from Pune was going to learn how to build the backbone of India’s digital future — microchips.
Mehta is one of hundreds of engineers and technicians sent by Tata Electronics to receive specialized semiconductor manufacturing training at the facilities of Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC).
The goal is not just corporate growth. It’s national transformation.
“We’re not just building a fab,” said a Tata executive on condition of anonymity. “We’re building the people who will operate and sustain it for the next generation.”
Tata’s Semiconductor Bet: More Than Bricks and Wafers
India’s semiconductor ambitions have long lagged behind global giants like the U.S., Taiwan, and China. But in 2024, with government support and private investment aligning, the country began laying the groundwork.
At the center of that transformation is Tata Electronics, which is building:
- A ₹91,000 crore semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, with a planned production start in December 2026.
- A ₹27,000 crore OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing) facility in Jagiroad, Assam, expected to be operational by mid-2025.
Together, these projects are projected to generate nearly 50,000 direct and indirect jobs — if the talent can be trained in time.
That’s where Taiwan comes in.
Training for a Generation, Led by the Best in the Industry
Tata’s approach is methodical. It has organized the training into batches of 50–75 employees, including fresh IIT graduates, plant engineers, and mid-career specialists. Over the coming months, they’ll rotate through Taiwan’s fabs, observing everything from yield optimization and cleanroom behavior to equipment calibration and process reliability.
This is paired with leadership that brings global experience. Tata has onboarded:
- Randhir Thakur, former global executive at Intel.
- KC Ang, previously head of Asia at GlobalFoundries.
- Tim McIntosh, a senior operations leader with decades in chip manufacturing.
This top-down and bottom-up model — veterans guiding new minds — is designed to eliminate early-stage errors and shorten the learning curve before production in India begins.
Case Study: From Classroom to Cleanroom
Ananya Singh, 24, graduated from IIT Bombay in 2023 with a degree in materials science. She never imagined her first real job would be in Taiwan. But in February, she found herself wearing a full cleanroom suit, analyzing wafer defects under ultraviolet light.
“The pace, the precision — it’s humbling,” she said. “In college, we studied semiconductor theory. Here, you feel the pressure of scale. Every micron matters.”
After returning to India last month, Ananya applied her training during a Dholera pilot line test. Her insights led to a 6.5% improvement in early-stage yield, a metric engineers say is “gold” in this industry.
“It made me feel like I’m part of something historic,” she added. “We’re not just borrowing from Taiwan. We’re learning to stand on our own.”
Why This Matters
India is betting big on chips — with a semiconductor incentive scheme of over Rs 76,000 crore and strategic backing from the U.S. and Japan. But money alone won’t deliver a manufacturing miracle.
People will.
What Tata is doing — embedding engineers in existing ecosystems, accelerating talent development, and bridging the gap between policy and production — might just serve as a model for how emerging nations can build critical industries from scratch.
