Enhancing Tech Trade Between India and the US with a Focus on Semiconductors, Telecom, and High-End Computing

According to a joint statement issued on Friday, India and the US would concentrate on initiatives to promote more knowledge sharing, semiconductor co-production prospects, 5G and 6G telecom networks, quantum computing, and high-end computing.

According to a statement dated June 22 that was made public following a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US, both governments have committed to advancing policies and modifying regulations to enable more opportunities for technology sharing, co-development, and co-production between US and Indian business, government, and academic institutions.

As both countries increase commitment to trusted network and supply chain ecosystem, India and the US have signed numerous agreements to promote bilateral trade, technology transfer, joint development of technologies in the area of semiconductor, 5G and 6G telecom and open source based telecom network, quantum and high performance computing, etc.

“President Biden and Prime Minister Modi praised the agreement’s signing as a crucial milestone in the cooperation of our nations’ semiconductor incentive programs. According to the joint statement, this will foster business prospects, research, the development of talent, and skill acquisition.

Both leaders hailed Micron Technology’s announcement that it will build a semiconductor assembly and testing plant in Gujarat at a cost of USD 2.75 billion with assistance from the Indian government. Micron Technology manufactures computer memory chips. Up to 5,000 new direct employment and 15,000 community job possibilities are anticipated to be generated by the facility over the following five years.

According to the statement, “The leaders also welcomed Lam Research’s proposal to train 60,000 Indian engineers through its Semiverse Solution virtual fabrication platform to accelerate India’s semiconductor education and workforce development goals” as well as Applied Materials Inc.’s announcement that it would invest $400 million in the country to create a collaborative engineering center.

Biden and Modi established two cooperative task forces on advanced telecoms, concentrating on Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies, with the goal of establishing secure and trustworthy telecommunications, resilient supply chains, and allowing global digital inclusion.

The United States Next G Alliance and India’s Bharat 6G Alliance will be in charge of coordinating the public-private collaboration between suppliers and operators. With the support of US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) funds, we are collaborating with operators and suppliers from both markets on Open RAN field testing and rollouts, including scaled installations, in both countries, according to the statement.

The establishment of a bilateral framework based on “Trusted Networks” and “Trusted Sources” was stressed by Biden and Modi.

The tremendous potential and huge threats involved with artificial intelligence were recognised by both leaders.

To enhance AI education and workforce efforts, boost economic prospects, and counteract prejudice and discrimination, they agreed to foster joint and worldwide cooperation on trustworthy and responsible AI, including generative AI.

A joint Indo-US Quantum Coordination Mechanism has been established by India and the US to promote cooperation between business, academia, and governmental entities. The goal is for the two nations to reach a thorough agreement on quantum information science and technology.

According to the statement, “US and India will maintain and expand quantum exchange and training programs and work to lower obstacles to US-India research collaboration.”

The leaders hailed the start of a $2 million grant program under the US-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund for the joint development and commercialization of quantum and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, and they urged public-private partnerships to build high performance computing (HPC) facilities in India.

In the release, it was noted that President Biden “reiterated his government’s commitment to work with the US Congress to lower barriers to US exports of HPC technology and source code to India.”

The US side agreed to do all in its power to encourage India’s Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to join the US Accelerated Data Analytics and Computing (ADAC) Institute as part of the partnership.

35 creative cooperative research partnerships in emerging technologies are being funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Together, the NSF and DST will support research initiatives in computer and information science and engineering, cyber physical systems, and secure and reliable cyberspace under a new implementation agreement.

Additional funding will be provided for joint projects in applied research fields like semiconductors, next-generation communication, cyber security, sustainability and green technologies, and intelligent transportation systems by NSF and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, according to the statement.

In addition to reiterating their commitment to an open, secure, inclusive, safe, interoperable, and reliable internet, Biden and Modi reaffirmed their nations’ commitment to continuing their cooperation on a number of cybersecurity-related issues, such as preventing and addressing cyberthreats, fostering cybersecurity education and awareness, and taking steps to develop resilient cyber infrastructure.

According to the statement, “both the United States and India are committed to sharing information about cyber threats and vulnerabilities, as well as to working together to investigate and respond to cyber incidents.”

The United States and India will look into methods to coordinate their efforts to promote the creation and implementation of a solid Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), including the implementation of the necessary security, privacy, and intellectual property measures.

As part of DPI, India has created the Aadhaar unique ID system, a single payment interface to reduce and simplify financial transactions, the CoWin platform to enable vaccinations, and other systems.

According to the statement, the US and India will investigate creating a US-India Global Digital Development Partnership to combine technology and resources from both nations to support the creation and implementation of DPIs in developing nations.