Become Mexico into a scientific and technological power. That is the plan of President Claudia Sheinbaum who, since she held the position at the end of last year, has not stopped presenting proposals to achieve that goal. As a result of this is the so -called ‘Mexico Plan’, the intention to create its own cheap electric car. Now, Mexico wants to depend on others to obtain chips, becoming a technological power along the way.
The key name of the project is ‘Kutsari’ and, although ambitious, it must face important challenges.
Puppy. In a press conference, Sheinbaum announced the creation of the National Semiconductor Design Center “Kutsari”. He explained that “it is the union of many scientists, technological developers and public institutions of higher education that will put all their intelligence, design and creativity to generate new semiconductor designs.”
The idea is ambitious and encompassed in the proposals of the Mexico Plan to revitalize the country and stop depending on both imports. In this case, imports of all types of chips for the devices that Mexico already produces and, thus, strengthen local manufacturing. Stop being a country that assembles chips to become one that designs and manufactures them, ultimately.
Goals. Sheinbaum’s vision is clear:
- Creation of the National Semiconductor Design Center.
- Later, establish a semiconductor manufacturing center.
- Finally, create a chain that allows you to try, encapsulate and assemble those chips in equipment.
In the statement, the president speaks of three venues located in Puebla, Jalisco and Sonora that, in addition, will be coordinated and supported by institutions such as the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, the Advanced Studies Research Center of the National Polytechnic Institute, the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the National Polytechnic Institute.
Kutsari means “sand” in Purépecha, the key material from which silicon is extracted to create semiconductors
Roadmap. After the implementation of the first headquarters in which the semiconductors will be designed, a consolidation of them is expected for 2027. At some point next year, the idea is to start looking for how a private, public or mixed company could establish a factory that produces these chips in the face of consolidation in 2029 and 2030. The objective of these first Mexican semicondators is the automotive industry, the automotive industry is the automotive industry and medical equipment. They also mention “other strategic devices for the country”, without specifying what they would be.
However, in the design of semiconductors the patents and that commitment of the country will be reflected in a modification of the Federal Law on Intellectual Property Protection with the objective of accelerating the patent process. Thus, this record of technological innovations will be expedited to expedite the production and sale process after the initial design phase. And it is also something that will allow protecting designs to possible plagiarism.
Investments. We enter the critical part of the plan. As we mentioned, Kutsari is part of the Mexico Plan, but producing semiconductors is not only easy: it is not cheap either. Thus, the idea is to attract national private initiative and foreign investments that intend to seduce with the creation of a more powerful business technological mesh. Several companies are already betting on Mexico and, without leaving the chips segment, we have an Almighty like Foxconn that is building in Mexico the largest factory of the planet for Nvidia chips.
Straight. But, beyond the difficulty when establishing that new industry, Kutsari will encounter other challenges along the way. One is the very high competition with countries such as Vietnam or India that have been offering aggressive incentives for years for companies to move from China to their territory, even seducing giants such as Apple and Samsung. To that wild competition we must add that silicon or Germanio is needed, two critical materials for semiconductors that are strategic in countries such as the United States and China.
And, obviously, national and international talent is needed, as well as a stable political and economic environment, since chips do not develop overnight. On this, Sheinbaum has commented that “there is a lot of research in Mexico and now what we are doing is putting all these minds together”, a good touchstone that only needs to consolidate with good development policies that allow the country to enter to play in the complicated and competitive world of semiconductors.
Image | ASML
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