Palak will propose to Prime Minister for direct allocation in the budget for the development of nanotech
By 2041, one-fifth of ICT exports will come from chip-semiconductors
Ulka Semiconductor in Bangladesh is generating and designing Neural Semiconductor, Prime Silicon and DSI chips, making $5 million a year. But still no chip fabrication institute has been established in the country. There is also no scope for chip assembling, testing and packaging. In such a situation, the government believes that it will be possible to achieve 10 billion dollars out of the estimated income of 50 billion dollars from the ICT sector by 2041 through the formulation of equity investment and semi-conductor policies. That is, one fifth of ICT exports will come from chip and semiconductor designing and fabrication.
In order to achieve that goal, instead of daydreaming, the value chain of the electronics product manufacturing industry should be established in the country to further strengthened according to the tasks set by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and ICT Advisor Sajeeb Wazed, said the state minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak. For that, the government has focused on high-end sophisticated technology. He said, for the chief designing capacity building in the country, 100,000 youths will be trained under the Enhancing Government and Economy project. Among these, 50,000 more semiconductor design pool of talent will be created like 150,000 engineers working in four companies of the country. If this can be done, the whole of Bangladesh will rely on Bangladesh herself.
Under Hire &Training Scheme, Microtip Designing, AI Expert, Machine Learning, Data Analytics and Cloud Computing are being emphasized. This training will be given in 40 universities including BUET and DU. At the same time, the state minister also said that incentives, policy support and equity investment will be given to 4 startups working on chip designing.
Besides, the government is paying more attention to investment support and startups, research and development to attract foreign investors in the semiconductor sector, he said.
“If someone wants to invest a billion dollars in a semiconductor company, the government will also invest 500 million dollars. For this reason, I will propose to the Hon'ble Prime Minister to make a direct allocation in the budget for the creation of matching funds. Also, now I can do one-million-dollar equity investment per round from Startup Company Limited.
State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak shared these points while speaking as the chief guest at the seminar held on ‘Unleashing the Potential of semiconductor industry in Bangladesh’ at the DCCI auditorium in Motijheel on Wednesday.
The minister said, we need brave and talented entrepreneurs. If we can't start now, we will go further back. Over the past 15 years, we have built the foundation of a technology-based ecosystem. In Smart Bangladesh by 2041, our goal is to achieve export earnings of 50 billion dollars in the IT sector. In the next 17 years, we can earn about 10 billion dollars from the semiconductor industry.
Professor of BUET Dr. ASMA Haseeb presented the main article in the seminar. He said that chips or semiconductors are used in everything from mobiles to missiles or microwaves. We carry around 150 ICs every day through smartphones alone. 923 billion chips were produced in the world in 2020. That means each person uses more than 116 chips. As a result, people have now started talking about semiconductors and chips. By 2030, the size of this market will exceed 1 trillion dollars. The chip is now compared to the human brain. The chip cannot be used directly. We have to package it. This packaging ecosystem revolves around assembling, testing and packaging and ATP. Therefore, regular research and development has to be done here. Already in this sector in 3 mm nano chip design TSMC, SMIC; Samsung, Intel are working on chip fabrication. IDM does all the work. Fabrication adds the greatest value to this sector.
Japan supplies wafers to this industry logistics. From there it is exported to the United States. Oridon manufactures these chips there. It was then sent to Malaysia. Packaged there. Later this industry was added to South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and China in Asia. Meanwhile, Thailand, Vietnam are doing well. The governments of Asian countries are now very supportive in this regard. Bangladesh has to run marathon not sprint to advance in this market. That is why research, development and training in electronic packaging should be given utmost importance. In this case, like other countries, grants, equity investment, loan facilities, parts import cooperation and free space for factories can be given. We have to remember that technological innovation in production will not increase economic growth. Semiconductor will play the biggest role in this field. A semiconductor is not a chip. In this regard, there is a huge value chain in pre and post fabrication and packaging. Without government policy and financial support, the private sector will not be able to move forward.
DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed presided over the function. Hi-Tech Park Authority Managing Director GSM Zafar Ullah was present as the special guest on the occasion. Mir Shahrukh Islam, MD of Bondstein Technology, Rajiv Hasan, VP of Teton Private Limited, Liaquat Ali, MD of Walton Digitech Industries and visiting professor M Niaz Asadullah of University of Reading, UK were present as discussants in the seminar.
