Chips, funding on US comm secy’s menu

NEW DELHI: US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo is landing in the capital with bunch of American CEOs at a time when the Biden administration is seeking to choke technology investment into China, raising expectations that some of this funds will flow into India.
While some of the ticklish trade issues are expected to be on the menu, officials said thrust will be on investment and semiconductors.

On the agenda for her discussions with her Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal is a package or support to the government’s initiative to the semiconductor sector, a key thrust area for the Modi regime, which is seeking to build a domestic manufacturing base to reduce its dependence on electronic imports from China. A push for such an initiative requires an ecosystem, with chips being at the heart of the plan.
The US itself is seeking to secure supply chains in the post-Covid period and is banking on the CHIPS and Science Act, enacted last year, to channelise investments of over $50 billion. Given the focus, the government is keen that the US offers its support to its semiconductor push as it will encourage companies to also look at India as a possible base for some of the activities. For a country like India, there is a long way to go, given that so far there have been statements of intent from players such as Foxconn.
Raimondo’s visit comes weeks after reports suggested that the Biden administration planned to outright ban investments in some Chinese technology companies and increase scrutiny of others. The ban could extend to chip manufacturing too.
Last October, amid heightened tensions, the US commerce department prohibited American companies from exporting to China technology, software, and equipment used in producing advanced computing chips and supercomputers.