The Israeli Ambassador today said that Israel is planning major investments in the semiconductor sector in India and described the development as “big news”.
Israel’s newly appointed ambassador to India Reuven Azar told news agency ANI, “Israel will soon invest in the semiconductor industry in India.” He said, “We expect big news in the coming days in terms of semiconductors, we have something in the pipeline.”
Israel has announced that it will make a major announcement regarding the semiconductor industry, possibly by a private Israeli company.
Though he declined to give any specifics, Mr. Azar said, “I don’t want to put the cart before the horse; there are some private sector folks who are taking the initiative, they’re going to announce it, the trend is very clear, we’ll see a lot more activity there and another area we want to promote.”
There are reports that Israeli integrated circuit maker Tower Semiconductor may invest billions of dollars in India. However, no official announcement has been made yet.
The ambassador also informed that Israel is planning to invest USD 35 billion in infrastructure projects in Tel Aviv, including a new metro system and an airport. For this, Israel is seeking the help of Indian infrastructure companies, he said.
This comes days after India signed a Semiconductor Ecosystem Partnership with Singapore during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Singapore last week.
The government had launched the India Semiconductor Mission in 2021 with a chip incentive scheme of Rs 76,000 crore. This was part of the recent efforts by the Centre to boost semiconductor manufacturing in the country.
Asked if Israel would prefer India over China as an investment destination, the ambassador said, “I am a diplomat, but it goes without saying that the bonds that connect India and Israel are unique. First of all, because of our shared history. Both the Jewish and Indian peoples were subjected to invasion by empires 2,000 years ago…we have the same principles of freedom and the inspiration to accept others.”
He also highlighted the strong relationship between Prime Minister Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that this will help in strengthening the relations between the two countries.
