Chennai-based opto chipmaker to invest $16.5m to help raise crops in polyhouses in Bahrain

(Eswara Rao Nandanam, managing director and chief executive officer of Polymatech displaying sapphire which is used in Semiconductor chips)

CHENNAI:In a bid to provide food security in Central Asia and North Africa, Chennai based opto Semiconductor chipmaker Polymatech is planning to set up op Semiconductor assembly  plant in Bahrain worth $16.5m million which would result in raising crops in the Middle East and the North Africa (MENA) region.
The Mena region has been totally reliant on food imports and the investment would help the region grow their own vegetables using the light emitting semiconductors. Apart from that the focus will be on medical electronics, including eye surgery, laparoscopy, vein finder.

Eswara Rao Nandanam, managing director and chief executive officer of Polymatech, said that his company has vowed to spend over $100 million in Bharain by 2027. The facility which is to be established under the brand name Atri, will also be producing 5G and 6G components. "Initially, we will be producing horticulture and medical devices chips," he said.

Nandanam said that the soil of Bahrain doesn't allow the growth of plants in the arid region. With our technology, the vegetables grown on cocopeat and hydroponics would be using the light generated by the opto semiconductor chips using sapphire wafers. When queried why not the sunlight available in the region, Nandam, who has come out with a ultraviolet technology to sanitise hospitals in Chennai, said that, "the ozone is different in different locations and the intensity sunlight will also be different that is why we are using the polyhouses," he said.

This would result in production of mushrooms and all kinds of vegetables in polyhouses, which the MENA countries have been depending on imports. Apart from this there will be fish farming and aquaculture. He said this would also improve the growth of poultry chicken by generating more flesh in them and all this could happen by using the lights emitted using the sapphire wafer chips which are thinner than the hair.

Nandam, who is helping the state government by providing 'infrared vein lighting' which helps in detecting the veins in the patient, said the facility will be set up in 25,000 square feet of Bahrain’s Industrial Area of Hidd which could be expanded to 100,000 square feet. The plant will be opened in October.

Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, Minister of Sustainable Development, Chief Executive of Bahrain Economic Development Board, said, "Polymatech establishing a semiconductor facility in Bahrain is a pivotal milestone on this journey of digital transformation and is set to usher in a new era of innovation and technological advancement across sectors, contributing significantly to the national economy."

The company is qlso planning to invest Rs 1,000 crore to expand its operations in Chennai in the year 2024 and 2025, where it is doing packaging of semiconductors. The investment is ongoing. This would result in increasing the capacity from 2 million chips a year to 5 million chips a year.