GREATER NOIDA, Feb. 22 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday led the foundation stone-laying ceremony for a Rs.3,700 crore semiconductor facility in Sector 28, YEIDA, near the Noida airport, marking a critical step in India's push for self-reliance in the global tech supply chain. Uttar Pradesh is set to become a major centre of India's semiconductor ecosystem, said Modi. The project, India Chip Pvt Ltd, is a 60:40 joint venture between HCL Group and Taiwan's Foxconn. Billed as Uttar Pradesh's first such project, the 48-acre outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) facility - a plant that packages and tests silicon wafers into finished chips - is located near the Noida airport along the Yamuna Expressway. Modi joined the event virtually at 5.05pm, addressing a gathering of around 1,000 Bharatiya Janata Party workers and HCL employees. Adityanath, along with Union IT and electronics minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of state for commerce and industry Jitin Prasada, and Uttar Pradesh industry minister Nand Gopal Gupta, attended the ceremony in person. Expected to be operational by 2028, the advanced facility will manufacture display driver integrated circuits (DDICs), which are chips used to control electronic display panels. The plant has a planned capacity to process 20,000 wafers per month and is expected to generate at least 3,500 direct and indirect jobs while catalysing local supply chains. Addressing the gathering, Modi said the project portrays India's commitment to building a self-reliant semiconductor ecosystem. "Today's work reflects our vision of building a self-reliant semiconductor ecosystem in India. A developed India can only be achieved when India becomes self-reliant. For that, it is extremely important that chips are made in India," Modi said. "Whether it is Digital India, Artificial Intelligence, 5G, 6G, electric vehicles or defence equipment - semiconductors are essential components in all of them." He also said, "Uttar Pradesh is set to become a major centre of India's semiconductor ecosystem. Wherever a semiconductor unit is established, design houses follow, R&D centres are set up and a startup ecosystem develops. All of this is now going to happen in Uttar Pradesh." "Earlier, Uttar Pradesh had an atmosphere of migration, deprivation, lack of facilities, and crime. Now it has completely changed," he further said. He noted that while oil dictated global power in the 20th century, "in the 21st century, that same power lies in small chips." Referring to global supply chain disruptions during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said: "We saw how fragile the global chip supply chain was. When disruptions occurred, factories across the world came to a halt. India learned from that crisis and turned it into an opportunity. We resolved to make India self-reliant in chip manufacturing." Adityanath described the project as a milestone for the state's industrial transformation, contrasting the current investment climate with the region's past. "Earlier, the Jewar area was plagued by kidnappings and shootings. People would not leave their homes in the evening," Adityanath said. "Now, this area is becoming an electronics hub. Uttar Pradesh is now known for dream investments." HCL chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra and Foxconn chairman Young Liu were also present at the site. "This project builds on our strong engineering legacy and deepens our commitment to Uttar Pradesh," Malhotra said. Liu stated that the joint venture reflects the company's localisation strategy in India. "This JV is a great example of how we build, operate and localise in India," he said. The development aligns with the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), which seeks to position the country as a key player in the global semiconductor value chain and reduce import dependence....