Differentiated, outward-looking commercialisation strategies necessary to harness opportunities, says Raj Kumar of IGSS Ventures, a 30-year industry veteran, investor
Singapore, 30 October, 2019 – IGSS Ventures Pte.Ltd (IGSSV), a technology investment holding firm offering “One-Stop semiconductor commercialisation services” and innovative hybrid business model delivered through an established portfolio of emerging niche technology companies, believes the unexpected confluence India is witnessing today necessitates a new investment and commercialisation approach in semiconductors. Taking advantage of the explosive growth in deep tech, founder and Group Chief Executive Officer Raj Kumar, opined that “there is no existing playbook” for this environment.
“India’s potential expansion in deep tech, demand for jobs, local consumption power and improved ranking in ease of doing business, provides an exciting premise to refocus on semiconductors. Combine that with government and business leaders’ willingness to integrate and scale and expand its geopolitical influence, India can certainly take its rightful place as a competitive nation in emerging (niche) solutions,” explains Raj.
Creating a differentiation strategy to leapfrog the nation’s growth in semiconductors on its own terms – establish niche fabs and build a selective but effective ecosystem, is what India needs to do,” offers Raj as IGSSV concludes an in-depth feasibility study on local market readiness for next-generation fabs.
India’s manufacturing goals under the “Make in India” initiative comes at a time of rapid transition into the emerging application of new technologies (deep tech) including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, 5G, Power Efficiencies, Electric and Autonomous Vehicles. The proliferation of domestic demand driven by both India’s largest youth population globally and growing middle class is an impetus to heavy chip, modules and whole system imports today. Providing a glimpse into the nation’s largely untapped opportunities, India can be the next global destination for semiconductors with established local manufacturing capabilities.
In this instance, India’s semiconductor players can focus on pushing investment and commercialisation opportunities in domestic niche semiconductor manufacturing (e.g Gallium Nitride on Silicon, Silicon Photonics, Analog Mixed Signal,MEMS and Power technologies) instead of the bleeding edge and mainstream logic silicon-based fab technology dominated by countries like US, Taiwan and South Korea. These niche technologies are instrumental in accelerating deep tech’s time-to-market, buoyed by demand for hardware to power a new generation of intelligent electronics, investments for deep-learning systems that extends into areas of research, education and training, and need for skills retraining.
”Long-term success in deep tech which already requires solid research capabilities depends on among others, an ecosystem that facilitates speed-to-market. Here, IGSSV’s expertise in commercialisation, leveraging a hybrid and flexible business model designed to reduce both investments and period of gestation-to-revenue enable go-to-market readiness. This is done in two areas. Firstly, building cost-effective and best-in-class operational fabs and secondly, bringing global collaborations into an ecosystem of partners that supports and accelerates commercialisation of B2B deep tech.”
Full Statement here
