Tata Group is looking to enter semiconductor manufacturing as part of its plans to ramp up its presence in the electronics space.

India has been trying to attract investments into the semiconductor manufacturing segment for several years as it is a critical component in the electronics hardware ecosystem. However, so far there have not been any real investments into this area. This could change if Tatas were to set up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in the country.

A Tata Sons spokesperson told BusinessLine that the new manufacturing plant being set up at Hosur under Tata Electronics could house the semiconductor facility.

“We have started hiring for the new plant that is being set up at Hosur. We will be starting with electronics manufacturing for the first phase and plan to look into semiconductor manufacturing in the medium-term,” the spokesperson said.

On Monday, Tata Sons Chairman, N Chandrasekaran said that there is $1-trillion market opportunity for high-tech manufacturing of electronics and Tata group has already taken steps to seize the opportunity.

“On rebalancing supply chains, India can significantly benefit from the geopolitical shifts that we are seeing. At the group, we have already set up a business to seize the promise of high-tech manufacturing of electronics, precision manufacturing, assembly, and testing, and semiconductors in the medium term,” he said while speaking at an event organised by the IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

BusinessLine had earlier reported that Tata Group was investing around ₹5,000 crore to set up the unit over 500 acres of land given by TIDCO (Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation). The investment was meant to be scaled up depending on the level of sourcing from the facility and could even touch ₹8,000 crore.

The new unit is expected to have a staff strength of 18,000 by October and 90 per cent of it will be women.

Tata group had recently announced its entry into the 5G telecom network space using open source tech platforms. It had acquired controlling stake in Bengaluru-based Tejas Networks as part of this plan. According to industry sources, Tata group has plans to take its 5G solutions to the global market after the trials with Airtel are completed. While Tata Consultancy Services will bring the software stack required for the solution, Tatas will rely on Indian start-ups to plug in other components that go into making a 5G network.

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