New Delhi, May 13 -- The $9-billion Murugappa Group's outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (Osat) plant, approved in February last year in partnership with Japan's Renesas Electronics, will commence supplying chips to paying clients by the first half of next year, according to a senior executive.

"The trial production, to be sure, will begin as early as the next few months itself," said Malini Narayanamoorthi, India head of Renesas. "We already have clients to serve out of the Osat, which will commence next year."

The Osat plant in Gujarat's Sanand, involving a net investment of around $222 million over five years, is majority owned by CG Semi, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chennai-based Murugappa Group. The factory was among th...