West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Biden for the proposed joint-collaboration semiconductor manufacturing unit in Kolkata, which was finalized during the PM's tour to America.
The proposal is the result of relentless promotion by the West Bengal government, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said. Since early last year, the state information technology department and the state undertaking Webel (West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation) approached leading semiconductor industries as many chip-designing and packaging start-up companies had relocated to various information technology parks of Webel after the COVID pandemic.
Global Foundries, Synopsis, Micron, and a few other leading international semiconductor companies organised several technology symposiums in West Bengal. They came to our units and offices to talk about emerging technologies and investment potential, the Chief Minister said.
She further added that for the first time ever, in the year 2024, in the state government-sponsored VLSI Conference, held in Kolkata, all the leading giants in semiconductor industries participated. "Hence, continuous deliberations coupled with successful promotion of the state's capacity have thus led to Global Foundries' recent proposal to set up a Global Capability Centre in Kolkata".
I assure all support to the emerging investment in this frontier sector. Let West Bengal be the true destination for knowledge-based industries, the chief minister added.
Industry observers see a bit of relief for the state government, regarding industrial investments, courtesy of the joint collaboration semiconductor manufacturing unit proposed in the state. The common criticism against the Trinamool Congress government is that though every year the annual Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) and the state government claimed to have attracted lakhs of crores of investment proposals, implementation of those proposals was hardly visible.
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