Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate an advanced semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) facility in Sanand on February 28. This inauguration signifies a significant milestone in India’s semiconductor manufacturing goals as part of the National Semiconductor Mission. The Sanand unit, established by Micron Semiconductor Technology India Pvt. Ltd., has been built with an investment of Rs 22,516 crore.
The facility will be responsible for the assembly, testing, marking, and packaging of semiconductor memory products, such as solid-state drives (SSDs) and RAM-type DRAM and NAND devices, aimed at global markets. Currently, a team of 2,000 employees is operating at the plant, with plans to expand the workforce to provide direct employment to approximately 5,000 individuals in the future.
Micron Technology’s President and CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, emphasized the critical role of memory and storage in emerging technologies, particularly in Artificial Intelligence (AI). He highlighted that without robust memory and storage support, AI systems cannot function effectively. As AI applications demand faster and real-time responses, the need for advanced memory solutions is escalating.
The semiconductor manufacturing process feeding into the ATMP facility commences with sand to extract pure silicon, which is then melted and shaped into cylindrical ingots. These ingots are sliced into thin wafers, onto which electronic patterns are imprinted in fabrication plants. Subsequently, multiple layers are added through photolithography to form transistors and create memory structures. The wafers are eventually cut into individual chips and sent to the Sanand plant for assembly, performance testing, and reliability checks before being marked and packaged for distribution.
