BBC News Last Updated: Thursday, 9 February 2006, 16:38 GMT
India to get $3bn hardware centre By Omer Farooq BBC News, Hyderabad
The Indian government has authorised the country's first micro-processors and silicon chips manufacturing facility for the IT industry. The $3bn project will be based in the southern city of Hyderabad and is expected to create 10,000 new jobs.
The project is important for India, as despite being a leading global player in the IT sector, it has to import key components of computer hardware.
Experts say that by 2015, India's IT sector will be worth $22.6bn.
'Fab City'
It was a close race between the country's two leading hi-tech cities - Hyderabad and what is known as India's Silicon capital, Bangalore.
As part of the $3bn project, 20 micro-processor and silicon chip manufacturing units for the IT industry will be set up, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister, YS Rajasekhara Reddy, told reporters.
He said that the new project, called Fab City, would be developed on a 1,200 acres area near Hyderabad and would be a public-private partnership project.
Mr Vinod Agarwal, the chief of Sem India, the main promoter of thes project, said the money would be invested in the project in two phases.
Sem India is a consortium of US-based non-resident Indians who have secured a licence from US giant, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., to manufacture microprocessors and chips.
The project is significant for the country because so far, the country does not have any such facility and has been largely dependent on imports of key components of computer hardware.
The project will help India become self-sufficient in manufacturing electronic goods such as mobile phones, high-end TVs, DVDs and telephones.
Mr Agarwal said India had a potential for tremendous growth in the area of micro-processors and computer chips.