Explained: India-US tech partnership in micro-chips, space and AI

The importance of a technology partnership between the two countries can be gauged from the fact that in the joint statement, technology partnership was first among all the aspects that covered defence, space, geopolitics, trade and economy among others.

The world’s largest and technologically most advanced economy, the United States of America, Thursday announced a comprehensive technology partnership with India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first state visit to the country.

The importance of a technology partnership between the two countries can be gauged from the fact that in the joint statement, technology partnership was first among all the aspects that covered defence, space, geopolitics, trade and economy among others.

In the joint statement issued by US President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, both the leaders said the technology will play the defining role in deepening our partnership as they hailed the inauguration of the Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in January 2023 as a major milestone in U.S.-India relations.

The iCET agreement was the most definitive signal that the USA is willing to share critical technologies with India be it defence such as core technology for producing fighter jet engines in India or technology related to the production and fabrication of semiconductor chips that are building blocks of any modern electronic device these days from laptops to mobile phones, from flat panel televisions to modern automobiles.

As a result, both India and USA called on public bodies, private entities and academic institutions to collaborate with each other so that the two countries can foster an open, accessible, and secure technology ecosystem, based on mutual confidence.

Semiconductors

The semi-conductor crisis witnessed by the automobile and electronics sector in 2021-22 was an eye-opener for Indian policymakers as several leading automobile manufacturers in the country such as Tata Motors, Suzuki Motors and Mahindra Group were forced to cut down their production or temporarily shut their plants due to acute shortage of microchips used in the vehicles.

In order to overcome this vulnerability in the country’s supply chain, Prime Minister Modi pressed for the development of chip design and fabrication capabilities within the country. In the statement, both leaders hailed the signing of an MoU on the Semiconductor Supply Chain and Innovation Partnership as a significant step. This will promote commercial opportunities, research, talent, and skill development.

Micron Technology Inc.

During the PM’s US visit, Micron Technology, Inc. announced an investment of up to $825 million to build a new semiconductor assembly and test facility in India with support from the Indian government. The combined investment valued at $2.75 billion would create up to 5,000 new direct and 15,000 community job opportunities in the next five years.

Lam Research to train Indian engineers

Another significant proposal came from Lam Research to train 60,000 Indian engineers through its Semiverse Solution virtual fabrication platform to accelerate India’s semiconductor education and workforce development goals.

Applied Materials to invest $400 million

Santa Clara, California-based US semiconductor manufacturer Applied Materials announced that it will invest $400 million to establish a collaborative engineering centre in India. Applied Materials is a leading manufacturer of semiconductors with worldwide operations and supplies integrated circuit chips for computers, smartphones and television sets.

5G, 6G telecom technology partnership

During the visit, India and US also agreed to increase their cooperation in the field of emerging technologies in the telecom sector such as a fifth and sixth-generation telecom network that is secure and trusted as both countries are suspicious of Chinese telecom equipment.

Biden and Modi launched two Joint Task Forces on advanced telecommunications, focused on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies. It will entail Public-private cooperation between vendors and operators and the initiative will be led by India’s Bharat 6G Alliance and the U.S. Next G Alliance.

“We are partnering on Open RAN field trials and rollouts, including scaled deployments, in both countries with operators and vendors of both markets, backed by U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) financing. The leaders welcomed the participation of Indian companies in the U.S. Rip and Replace Program,” said the Indian and US leaders.

Both President Biden and Prime Minister Modi endorsed an ambitious vision for 6G networks, including standards cooperation, facilitating access to chipsets for system development, and establishing joint research and development projects.

Quantum Science

USA and India have established a joint Indo-U.S. Quantum Coordination Mechanism to facilitate collaboration among industry, academia, and government to work towards a comprehensive Quantum Information Science and Technology agreement.

India will participate in the Quantum Entanglement Exchange and in the Quantum Economic Development Consortium to facilitate expert and commercial exchanges with leading, like-minded quantum nations.

Artificial Intelligence

Both nations launched a $2 million grant program under the U.S.-India Science and Technology Endowment fund for the joint development and commercialization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum technologies and encouraged public-private collaborations to develop high-performance computing (HPC) facilities in India.

President Biden said he would work with the U.S. Congress to lower barriers to U.S. exports to India of HPC technology, including the source codes. The Biden Administration will also help India’s Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) join the U.S. Accelerated Data Analytics and Computing (ADAC) Institute.

Collaboration in space sector

Technology partnership in the space sector was one of the high points of the US-India joint statement as both nations agreed to reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation. As per the programme, NASA and ISRO will develop a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation by the end of 2023.

US space agency NASA will provide advanced training to Indian astronauts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, with the goal of mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024. Under the space sector collaboration, NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite has been delivered to ISRO’s U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, India which will be launched next year.