Lam Research Donates Software to Upskill India's Semiconductor Workforce

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) US-based semiconductor equipment company Lam Research Corp on Monday said it will donate software worth Rs 241 crore to upskill workforce in India to meet requirements of electronic chips industry in the country.

The company has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for broad deployment of Semiverse Solutions to develop India's semiconductor manufacturing workforce.

The agreement follows a joint statement and fact sheet issued by the governments of the US and India at the White House in June 2023 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US.

“Lam is donating nearly USD 29 million (INR 241 crore) in software licences over the next two years to enable 2,800 students, while ISM is supporting the establishment of infrastructure and operational costs. IISc will “Train-the-Trainers” at the selected universities, while Lam will deploy a dedicated team of employees to support the expansion across the country,” the statement said.

The MoU signals the successful completion of the pilot in partnership with IISc and establishes a framework for expansion to multiple universities across India.

“As India takes bold steps to establish a semiconductor industry, a virtual-physical fabrication world made possible with Semiverse Solutions will be critical to rapidly scale a workforce to meet industry demand," Lam Research India, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Rangesh Raghavan said.

Combined with program management and course curriculum customization, the program is targeted to educate up to 60,000 Indian engineers in semiconductor fabrication technologies, over a ten-year period.

"It's exciting to embark on this journey with Lam Research and the IISc. As the semiconductor ecosystem in India grows, effective skill development partnerships will be key to ensuring we can sustain the momentum," ISM CEO Akash Tripathi said.