Tata and Qualcomm to Manufacture Automotive Chips in India
Tata Electronics will manufacture Qualcomm's automotive modules at its new facility in Assam, India. The partnership aims to boost local production of embedded systems for vehicles, including digital cockpits and intelligent vehicle systems. The collaboration is seen by observers as a significant step toward strengthening local supply chains for the automotive industry.
- The new Tata facility in Jagiroad, Assam, is India's first indigenous Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) plant, built with an investment of approximately ₹27,000 crore (around US$3.6 billion). It will focus on advanced packaging technologies like Wire Bond and Flip Chip. - This collaboration is part of a much larger ~US$14 billion investment by Tata Electronics into India's semiconductor ecosystem, which also includes the country's first semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, being built in partnership with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC). - The Qualcomm modules to be manufactured are built around the Snapdragon Digital Chassis platform, which integrates SoCs with other components for telematics, computing, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). This modular approach is designed to simplify system design and accelerate the industry's shift toward software-defined vehicles. - The project is a key part of the 'Make in India' initiative and is supported by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), a government program with a financial outlay of ₹76,000 crore (about $10 billion) aimed at developing a domestic electronics manufacturing ecosystem. - Beyond the Qualcomm partnership, Tata Electronics has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Intel to explore manufacturing and packaging of Intel's products at its new facilities, indicating a broad strategy to attract multiple global clients. - The Assam plant is projected to have a production capacity of up to 48 million chips per day and is expected to create over 27,000 direct and indirect jobs in the region. Construction started in 2024, with the first phase of operations anticipated to begin by mid-2025.
