India on Thursday signed an agreement with Japan for the joint development of the semiconductor ecosystem and to maintain the resilience of its global supply chain. Japan became the 2nd Quad partner to sign the semiconductor pact with India.

The agreement was signed between Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw and Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura in New Delhi.

“Japan and India have signed a memorandum for semiconductor design, manufacturing, equipment research, talent development and to bring resilience in the semiconductor supply chain,” Vaishnaw said. The nations will create an “implementation organisation” that will work on government-to-government and industry-to-industry cooperation, Vaishnaw added.

“Everybody wants a resilient semiconductor supply chain and in this India and Japan are very important partners. This is in furtherance with our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi Ji’s very successful state visit to the US where many agreements were signed and that is reflecting in cooperation with other countries today,” he further said.

“Semiconductor industry will become a USD 1 trillion industry from USD 650 billion at present. This will require a huge amount of talent, and significant growth at multiple locations in the world. Japan sees India as a partner where complementary strengths can be used,” the Union Minister said.

Japan with around 100 semiconductor manufacturing plants is among the top five countries to have a semiconductor ecosystem.