Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT, BT, and RDPR in the Government of Karnataka, has expressed the state’s readiness to train 1,000 engineers for the upcoming ATMP project of Micron, a prominent US memory chip giant in Gujarat. Kharge conveyed, “Micron needs 1,000 engineers. We are ready to train them for Micron. All they need is to give us the curriculum, give us the syllabus, and we will train them.”

Kharge emphasised the global interest in India’s capabilities, stating, “When I was recently in the US, a company told me that the US requires close to 1 million chip designers. They need to upskill, and we are the only people who can do that. We can deliver on that. So, we have provided a skill council, which is headed by me and the Minister of Skill Development. And we’re talking to the industry directly.”

In India’s pursuit to establish itself as a semiconductor hub, the challenge of acquiring a skilled workforce for Advanced Testing and Packaging (ATMP) and semiconductor fabs looms large. The Ministry of Electronics & IT, in collaboration with AICTE, has introduced courses with the goal of training 85,000 engineers in the coming years. However, the Government of Karnataka is taking steps to bridge the talent gap and assist companies in finding the right personnel.

Karnataka’s ambitions extend beyond the semiconductor sector; the state aims to provide the world’s most employable workforce. Kharge elaborated, saying, “The idea is very clear for the government of Karnataka. We are here to provide the entire world with the most employable workforce. So, we’ll do anything it takes to ensure our graduates, our people, are the most trained, most skilled people, whether it’s white collar, blue collar.”

Since the change in government earlier this year, Karnataka’s focus has shifted towards skill development, not just for the Indian ecosystem but also the global one. Kharge asserted, “We are of the firm belief that we are no longer catering to the Indian ecosystem. We are catering to the global ecosystem. And Bangalore is a place where it happens. Kerala is a place that happens. We are also forming a lot of Centers of Excellence in emerging technology. So, we will be incubating talent, nurturing talent, and innovations and inventions for emerging technologies.”