Next Orbit Ventures (NOVF), the newly launched Abu Dhabi-based fund established under the Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM) jurisdiction, has announced the launch of $2 billion fund for building semiconductors and electronics fab ecosystem in India.While $1.5 billion will be raised from this region as feeder fund by NOVF, the remaining $500 million has already been secured by Next Orbit Ventures Fund-II from a consortium of investors involving both the Indian government and UHNIs.During the past year, NOVF has signed MoUs with leading technology providers UMC (Taiwan), AMD (US), TowerJazz (US) and Centrotherm PV (Germany) as technology licensees for its projects.
Ajay Jalan, founder and managing partner, NOVF II, said discussions are on with the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat to secure the land for the project.“Unlike a standalone fab investment, NOVF-II’s focus is to develop end-to-end value chain in a 2,000-acre cluster, creating a thriving ecosystem of supporting investments,” he said.The project aims at building the required infrastructure to cater to India’s fast-growing market for electronic goods and components. India imported nearly $45 billion worth of electronic goods and components in 2016, according to a study by Ernst & Young and Indian Electronics & Semiconductor Association.By 2022, India’s demand for electronics is estimated to touch $400 billion on the back of rapid penetration of electronic devices and internet connectivity.The current global demand for semiconductors, Jalan said, is about $400 billion, adding: “China is now building its semiconductors capacity after producing 80 percent of world electronics. In contrast India is not even able to produce 15 percent of its own requirement.”For the past decade, the Government of India has been trying its best to attract investments and promote the semiconductor sector to reduce the risk of trade imbalance and cybersecurity.
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