Semiconductor sector can be $10b industry by 2041: Palak

The country's semiconductor sector can be a $10 billion industry by 2041, State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said today (15 May).

"We have a few chip design companies that are doing well. However, in chip fabrication, assembly, testing, and packaging, we still lag behind comparable countries which started much earlier," he said. 

"With appropriate policy support and incentives, we can create a $10 billion semiconductor industry here by 2041," he added.

The state minister made the statement while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on "Unleashing the potential of semiconductor industry in Bangladesh" organised by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) at DCCI in the city.

Here, the year 2041 has been set as the target, keeping in line with the government's commitment to transforming the nation into a developed and sustainable one, as outlined in its "Smart Bangladesh Vision 2041." 

The government also wants to position Bangladesh as an upper middle income country by 2031 and a developed country by 2041.

Palak said the government might formulate a semiconductor policy for fast development of the sector to replicate the success story of the electronics industry localisation in the past decade.

The state minister said the government wants to produce some 50,000 chip designers in the country to let the design industry flourish. He also hoped for fiscal allocation for the potential sector. 

Sharing his insights, ASMA Haseeb, a professor of Nanomaterials and Ceramic Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), pointed out how Taiwan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and even the Philippines entered the small club of the global semiconductor manufacturing nations.

He said, "Design, core chip manufacturing and testing, packaging and assembling are the three major parts of the worlds' semiconductor industry which is valued at over $650 billion.

"A few pioneering Bangladeshi firms, utilising local talents, are proving themselves in the global map at a yet limited scale that can grow manifolds." 

"Semiconductor fabrication or the foundry industry for the core chips is a bigger ballgame as giant nations including the USA are allocating billions of dollars as state subsidies to chip manufacturers," said the professor, adding, Bangladesh should initially focus on chip design and assembling as low hanging fruits.

DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed suggested a supportive business environment and skilled workforce cultivation for a strong semiconductor industry in the country. He also called for simplification of administrative procedures, protection for intellectual property to attract global firms.

GSM Jafarullah, managing director of the Bangladesh High-Tech Park Authority, informed that the government was establishing innovation hubs in ten universities alongside building Sheikh Hasina Institute of Frontier Technology in a vast 70 acres of land in Shibchar, Madaripur. 

He also informed that work of 21 out of 94 planned high-tech parks are nearly complete.

"Government is also considering the best possible tax benefits to the ICT sector so that we can attract more local investment or FDI in this sector," he added. 

Managing Director of Bondstein Technologies Ltd Mir Shahrukh Islam, Co-founder and Vice-President of Software Teton Private Ltd Razib Hasan, and Additional Managing Director of Walton Digi-Tech Industries Liakat Ali, spoke on the occasion among others.