India’s chip ambitions have drawn another equipment supplier into the conversation, this time from the world of optics.
Canon says it has already held discussions with the teams behind every major fabrication project in the country and is prepared to sell them lithography systems once those plans solidify.
Toshiaki Nomura, the president and chief executive of Canon’s India operation, told the Press Trust of India that the government’s manufacturing push represents a significant opening. He said the company would eventually station technical staff and service centers near its customers, because fabs cannot afford long gaps in tool support.
His reasoning is simple. A machine that patterns wafers needs local maintenance around the clock, and dedicated sites only make sense after a project is confirmed.
Canon is not alone in courting the market. Applied Materials has committed $5B to a sprawling research campus, and a string of toolmakers have grown their Indian teams while the country tries to assemble an ecosystem largely from scratch.
Nomura would not identify which ventures Canon has spoken with, saying the projects remain in flux. He also declined to vouch for the country’s schedules, which he said belong to the manufacturers themselves.
