Karnataka may land "fab city" project

BANGALORE: After achieving success in software services and Electronic design automation, Karnataka may soon boast of a "fab city".

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in the semi-conductor industry said that efforts are on both at the state and central government levels to set up a fab city in Karnataka.

"Two consortiums of investors are in fairly advanced talks and the blueprint for the fab city will be ready in December," said the source.

The fab city would be set up in a suitable location in Karnataka, and not necessarily Bangalore.

Dayanidhi Maran, Union communications and information technology minister, has urged various States to look at setting up fab cities. Madhavan Nambiar, additional secretary, ministry of communications and IT, Government of India said today at the inauguration of the Indian Semiconductor Association conference, that Karnataka has been identified as one of the priority states for the fab city project.

Nambiar said that a fab city would entail the allotment of around 1500 acres of land and adequate power, water and infrastucture. Around 200 acres would be allocated for foundries and fabs.

PGR Sindhia, Karnataka's finance and industries minister urged the ministry to choose Karnataka since the state had favored IT though the years. "If the Government of India decided to have the fab city in Karnataka, we will be more than happy to provide infrastructure, water and other resources. We have supported IT over the years and now, we want to focus on hardware," he said.

According to semiconductor industry players, Maran has taken a lot of interest in pushing chip companies like Intel to consider India as a fab destination.