New Delhi: Intel, the world's largest chip maker, on Wednesday said its decision to bypass India for setting up a semiconductor manufacturing unit was on account of the government's delay in announcing a policy for the sector.
"We were in serious discussion for chip manufacturing in India but the Government was a bit slow on semiconductor manufacturing proposals," said Intel chairman Craig Barrett in Delhi.
Barrett justified his decision to go to Vietnam and China by saying "to set up a manufacturing base, we do planning years in advance; the China and Vietnam plans were made much earlier. As the Government was slow in announcing the policy, in the window period we went to these two countries".
Intel said in March it would invest $2.5 billion to build a microchip plant in northeastern China, which will be its first semiconductor plant in Asia, with the production of chipsets to begin in 2010. But India remained important for the company and was a potential candidate for Intel's future investments, Barrett said.
"Past is past. India is high on our list of future manufacturing destinations if we require additional capacity", he said.
Asking the Government not to protect old technologies, Barrett said the company is in discussions with Government for allocation of spectrum for Wi-Max services (Internet wireless broadband), a cheap and easily deployable service, and with other companies for adoption of this innovative technology.
Barrett also said that India and China would be among the top three economic powers in the world in next 25 years. "India and China will grow at a much faster pace than the developed nations... both would emerge among the top economic powers... it is inevitable," he said.
Barrett is in India for a UN programme to spread the use of computers in remote areas, in which Intel is involved. Last November, he said in New Delhi that Intel was waiting for India to form its semiconductor policy before deciding on plans to begin manufacturing in the country.
Semiconductor firms such as Intel, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Freescale Semiconductor Inc have already tapped India for chip design, but not manufacturing.
In March, Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp, which is backed by a group of Indian investors based in Silicon Valley, announced plans to build two chip-making plants in India for up to $4.5 billion using technology from Germany's Infineon Technologies AG.
(With PTI and Reuters)
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