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IT industry urged to explore wafer tech

Our Bureau

CHENNAI, Sep. 13.

THE Tamil Nadu Industries Secretary, Mr Shaktikanta Das, has emphasised the need for having the domain of `wafer technology' (chips used for manufacturing ICs in computers) in India.

``It is a matter of concern that while a lot of software development is taking place in India, one of the areas that needs immediate attention is the capability to have domain on wafer technology,'' he said.

``Unless we do this, we will not be able to catch up with countries such as the US (which dominates the market), Korea and Singapore.''

Inaugurating the CSI 2000-Millennium Exhibition _ organised by the Computer Society of India as part of the 35th annual convention _ on Wednesday, Mr Das said that wafer technology, which offers tremendous potential, will be one area giving competitive a dvantage to India over other countries.

Currenty, multinationals such as Intel, Motorola, Microsoft and SGS Thompson are in the domain of wafer technology.

India had a semi-conductor factory, a Government of India undertaking, in Chandigarh. However, the unit was destroyed in a fire in the late 1980s. After that nothing has been done so far in the area, he said.

Being a strategic activity for the IT sector, the industry players should come forward and invest in a facility on wafer technology. The Government will act as a facilitator in this regard, he added.

Mr Das called on IT professionals to take computers to smaller cities, districts and rural areas. ``So far, IT penetration has been only in the urban areas, and the industry should take action to spread it across the smaller places.''

He added that the State Government will give focus on the two knowledge-based industries, IT and bio-technology.

However, this does not mean that the conventional industries such as manufacturing and infrastructure will be sidelined, where work is going on in various fronts.