Fujifilm signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Electronics to invest Rs 800 crore in a semiconductor materials plant at Dholera, Gujarat. The facility will supply photoresists, developers, and process chemicals to Tata Electronics' Rs 91,000 crore fabrication complex, which broke ground in March 2024 and targets first silicon by late 2026. The investment will be staged across three phases, with the initial manufacturing line expected to produce materials by Q4 2025.
Tata Electronics is building a 300mm wafer fab at Dholera Special Investment Region with capacity for 50,000 wafer starts per month at full ramp. The plant will produce logic and power management chips on 28-nanometer and 40-nanometer nodes, targeting automotive, industrial, and mobile applications. Fujifilm's plant sits within the same special economic zone, reducing logistics lead time for time-sensitive photoresist shipments from the current 18-day import cycle to under 24 hours. Fujifilm already supplies 32 percent of global photoresist volume for mature-node fabs and holds long-term supply agreements with TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.
The MoU is the first announced backward-integration agreement for India's semiconductor incentive program, which has committed $15.2 billion across three fabrication projects and two assembly-test facilities since June 2023. Photoresist and high-purity chemicals represent 11 to 14 percent of total fab operating costs and are supplied by a concentrated group of Japanese and European vendors. Localizing this supply removes foreign-exchange volatility and reduces working capital tied up in inventory buffers. Tata Electronics estimates the Fujifilm plant will reduce its annual chemical procurement cost by Rs 420 crore once the fab reaches 80 percent utilization in 2028.
The Dholera fab is India's first greenfield wafer-fabrication facility and the anchor project for Gujarat's semiconductor corridor, which now includes packaging plants from Micron Technology and CG Power, plus an assembly facility from Kaynes Technology. The state government has reserved 1,200 acres in the special investment region for semiconductor supply-chain tenants and is negotiating with three additional materials suppliers and two equipment vendors. Fujifilm's investment brings total private capital committed to Dholera's semiconductor cluster to Rs 1.38 lakh crore.
Operators should watch for Fujifilm's first-phase capital expenditure filing with India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, expected by end of May 2025, which will detail equipment orders and construction timelines. The ministry has set a 90-day approval window for investments under the Modified Semiconductor Incentive Scheme, with disbursements tied to production milestones. Tata Electronics will begin equipment installation in Q3 2025, and any delay in Fujifilm's ramp would force the fab to maintain dual sourcing from Japan through 2027, increasing working capital requirements by an estimated Rs 680 crore.
The MoU includes a clause for Fujifilm to supply materials to other fabs under India's incentive program, positioning the Dholera plant as a regional hub for the $4.8 billion Indian semiconductor materials market projected for 2030.