HCL, Foxconn likely to build semiconductor talent pipeline: Roshni Nadar Malhotra

Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson, HCL Group.

“>

HCL Group is likely to partner with the Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn to train and upskill the locally available talent pool in its ambition to make a dent in the semiconductor space.

“What we plan to do over the next few years is actually build and train some of the talent. That is why we also want to partner with Foxconn because it comes from deep engineering heritage and they have been around for over 40 years,” Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chairperson, HCL Group told ET.

Nadar also said that the Indian technology multinational would require a core talent of about 600 to 800 high-tech engineers in the upcoming outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility at Greater Noida.Saturday, HCL and Foxconn laid a foundation stone to set up a semiconductor unit which is expected to be commercially opeartional by 2028.Indian conglomerate HCL is investing Rs 3,700 crore to set up an OSAT unit, eyeing “huge domestic market demand” following India’s robust electronics ecosystem.

“We also have the Shiv Nadar University here, which is a STEM university,” the chairperson said, adding that the company employs nearly 55,000 individuals in the state.

Established in 2011, Shiv Nadar University is a research-focused institution with a strong emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, (STEM) through its Schools of Engineering and Natural Sciences, featuring advanced labs and interdisciplinary research.

The university is introducing relevant curriculum and plans to impart relevant training programs to meet the talent pipeline over the next few years, she added.

Following the Centre’s enabling policies including the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) with an outlay of ₹76,000 crore, the country is lately seeing momentum in the semiconductor domain.

This follows a failed attempt back in 2013 to set up two semiconductor wafer fabrication (fab) facilities in India by two consortium partners: IBM, TowerJazz and Jaypee Associates, and Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (HSMC), STMicroelectronics and Silterra.Non-availability of relevent resources and skillset particularly highly-skilled top level talent was among one of the top deterrents.Experts cite the lack of locally-available skilled talent as a critical challenge for the semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem. The sector requires individuals with expertise to handle speciality materials, gases, substrates, and advanced equipment.

“We believe talent is somewhat available but the skill and the know-how on the processes is lacking. This has to be filled with knowledge transfer from expats initially. “This is key to deploying the advanced and different packaging and testing technologies that will be implemented within OSAT processes to achieve optimal yield and utilisation rate for the chips being produced,” said Neil Shah, Co-Founder at Counterpoint Research.

In a finding, Dublin-based Accenture said that through collaborations with educational institutions, tailored curricula should be created to effectively address the talent gap, so that companies could build a robust and adaptable talent ecosystem.

Semiconductor sector talent pool worldwide is likely to grow 20-25% by 2035, the recent study added.

Early this year, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) collaborated with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and private institutions to boost skill development in India’s burgeoning semiconductor sector.