Months after Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran confirmed the company’s plans to venture into the semiconductor business, semiconductor veteran Randhir Thakur has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Tata Electronics Pvt. Ltd (TEPL). Thakur’s appointment will play a crucial in Tata Group’s plans to venture into semiconductor fabrication (manufacturing) and packaging going forward. With over 40 years of experience in global manufacturing, research and development, and profitable P&L management, prior to joining TEPL, Thakur was the President of Intel Foundry Services. During his visit to India in April 2022 with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, Thakur had also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss India’s semiconductor programme.
N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. said, “The roadmap for Tata Electronics is exciting, and Dr. Thakur’s in-depth knowledge and multi-functional experience will bode well for the company. I am confident that under his leadership, Tata Electronics will lead India to take its rightful position in the global semiconductor and precision manufacturing industry”.
Elated to join Tata Electronics as the CEO and MD, Randhir Thakur said, “For semiconductors as well as precision manufacturing, we intend to deliver innovation, quality, and cost advantage with speed and at scale.”
The salt-to-steel conglomerate intends to invest $90 billion in this space across the group companies over the next five years. It plans to foray into advanced chip manufacturing, popularly known as fabs, in a few years.
While Chandrasekaran has indicated the company’s plans to get into advanced chip manufacturing or fabs in the past, the appointment of Thakur has confirmed the Tata Group’s seriousness and commitment towards semiconductor manufacturing. However, even now, the technology and nodes the company plans to invest in have not been disclosed.
Even after Thakur’s appointment, if Tata Electronics plans to apply for the semiconductor manufacturing scheme, the company will have to team up with a partner, ideally a fab manufacturer, who can transfer an existing, in-production technology, which has to be a production-grade license as per the government policy, as the company has no expertise in semiconductor manufacturing. However, the group’s other option is to develop the technology in-house, but this is a long, tedious and resource-hungry process.
Independent semiconductor analyst Arun Mamphazy told Business Today that Tata has been hinting for about a year that it will assess starting semiconductor fabs in addition to chip packaging. “Randhir Thakur joining as CEO could be a step closer to solidifying their plans. Time will tell us whether Tata will go with compound semiconductor fab with perhaps Renesas as a partner or Silicon fab with PSMC or similar as technology provider,” he noted.
In June 2022, Japanese semiconductor manufacturer Renesas Electronics Corporation, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, had entered into a strategic partnership with two Tata Group companies – TataMotors Ltd. (TML) and Tejas Networks Ltd. (Tejas). This strategic partnership is focused on developing semiconductor solutions for technologies across automotive, IoT and 5G Systems. In addition, Renesas and Tata Consultancy Services Limited (TCS) will also partner by establishing a Joint System Solution Development Center in Bangalore to focus on comprehensive system solutions for the IoT, Infrastructure, Industrial and Automotive segments by leveraging Renesas’ semiconductor solutions and TCS’ industry experience.
Veterans in the semiconductor industry are delighted to see Randhir Thakur taking the mantle of CEO of Tata Electronics. Satya Gupta, President of VLSI Society, told Business Today: “Randhir Thakur’s exceptional leadership credentials will help synergize Tata’s Vision of building complete value chain of Electronics & Semiconductors including FAB, ATMP, Telecom & Other Chips, Telecom & Electronics Products and Electronics Manufacturing. This is a remarkable development for India’s aspirations.”
Before onboarding Thakur, Tata Electronics had appointed Raja Manickam as the CEO of Tata Electronics OSAT India, last year. OSAT/ATMP is critical for India’s Semiconductor Mission and overall semiconductor ecosystem. No chip can be used in a product without going through the packaging and testing process. Also, for some very advanced products, packaging provides a way for integrating multiple chips done is different technologies into a simple package using the technologies like SIP, MCM, Chiplets, Interposer, TSV etc.
Tata Group isn’t the Indian conglomerate that is exploring semiconductor manufacturing. Following the government’s India Semiconductor Mission offering financial support of Rs 76,000 crore to make India a semiconductor hub, India’s mining leader Vedanta had applied for semiconductor manufacturing with a joint venture with Foxconn, and display manufacturing. As per information privy to Business Today, the company has submitted all required documents to India Semiconductor Mission and is hoping for a positive response in the coming months.
As India’s large business houses show interest in semiconductor manufacturing, this is a positive sign for India’s dream of becoming a semiconductor manufacturing nation.