The government has invited proposals from entities to set up electronic chip manufacturing units in the country and even acquire any company making semiconductors overseas.

The expression of interest floated by the ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) on Tuesday said the government is keen to incentivise and attract investment in setting up semiconductor fabrication units in India.

“The Meity invites expressions of interest (EoI) from companies/consortia desirous of setting up/expanding existing semiconductor wafer/device fabrication (FAB) facilities in India or acquisition of semiconductor FABs outside India,” the EoI document said.

Meity has fixed January 31, 2021 as the last date for submitting the proposal.

The government plans to use the proposals to formulate a scheme for setting up or expansion of existing semiconductor plants in the country, according to the document.

Meity said the need to set up semiconductor plants assumes significance in view of the fact that India is poised to increase its share in global manufacturing of mobile phones, IT hardware, automotive electronics, industrial electronics, medical electronics, IoT and other devices in the near future as it aspires to have $400 billion of electronics manufacturing by the year 2025.