Reliance Industries, HCL may enter Indian semiconductor race via ISMC

Chennai | New Delhi | Mumbai: Reliance Industries (RIL) and software major HCL are independently “evaluating” deals to purchase 30% equity stake each in semiconductor wafer fab applicant ISMC Analog, multiple people aware of developments told ET, signalling heightened interest in India’s ambitious move to seed a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem in the country.

The oil-to-telecom conglomerate as well as the Shiv Nadar-founded HCL are likely to invest through subsidiaries, said the sources who estimate the total investment from both parties may be over Rs 4,000 crore ($500-600 million). ISMC Analog, a consortium of Mumbai-based Next Orbit Ventures and Israeli tech firm Tower Semiconductor, is one among three applicants vying for subsidies under the Centre’s Rs 76,000-crore Semicon India programme. It has chosen an electronics cluster near Mysuru to build its $3-billion fab.