New Delhi, Sep 17: India has reached an important stage in its semiconductor journey, with the foundations of a domestic chip ecosystem now in place and the focus shifting towards expanding the industry, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said.
The minister said India has moved beyond the initial challenge of establishing a semiconductor base and is now entering a phase where the country needs to scale up manufacturing, strengthen the supporting ecosystem and develop greater capabilities across the semiconductor value chain.
India’s semiconductor push is no longer limited to setting up manufacturing facilities. The country’s broader ambition covers chip design, fabrication, assembly and testing, advanced packaging, semiconductor equipment, materials and the development of skilled talent.
This wider ecosystem will be important for creating a sustainable semiconductor industry. As more projects move towards production, opportunities are expected to emerge for companies involved in equipment, materials, testing, engineering, logistics and other supporting services.
The growth of the semiconductor sector also has implications for India’s electronics manufacturing ambitions. Chips are essential to products ranging from smartphones and computers to automobiles, telecommunications equipment, industrial machinery and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.
Building greater domestic capability can help electronics manufacturers source a larger share of critical components from within the country while creating opportunities for Indian companies to become part of global technology supply chains.
The sector is also opening new opportunities for startups and small and medium enterprises. Companies working in chip design, semiconductor intellectual property, testing, specialised equipment and electronics components can play a larger role as the ecosystem expands.
Talent development will remain another important part of this transition. Semiconductor manufacturing and design require specialised expertise in areas such as electronics engineering, chip architecture, materials science, process engineering, testing and advanced manufacturing.
India already has a strong base of engineers and semiconductor design professionals, and continued investment in skills and research will be necessary to support the industry’s expansion. Government programmes have also sought to widen access to semiconductor design tools and encourage institutions and startups to participate in chip development.
The government’s semiconductor strategy is also closely connected with its larger effort to increase domestic value addition in electronics. Moving from assembly towards components, chip design and manufacturing could allow more economic value to be generated within India.
For businesses, the development of a domestic semiconductor ecosystem could create a new investment cycle across multiple industries. Manufacturing facilities can attract suppliers and ancillary companies, while technology firms can explore opportunities in design, testing and semiconductor-related services.
The expansion could also create skilled employment opportunities, particularly in engineering, research and development, manufacturing, quality control, equipment maintenance and supply-chain management.
India’s semiconductor ambitions come at a time when chip supply chains are becoming increasingly important to global manufacturing. The growing demand for artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, connected devices and advanced computing is creating new requirements for reliable semiconductor supplies.
The next challenge for India, therefore, is to ensure that the foundations already created translate into commercially successful projects, deeper domestic capabilities and globally competitive products.
With the industry now moving from foundation-building to expansion, the focus will increasingly be on execution, technology development, talent and the ability to build a complete semiconductor ecosystem within the country.
India’s semiconductor story is consequently entering a new phase — one that goes beyond establishing facilities and towards building an industry capable of designing, manufacturing and supplying chips for both domestic and global markets.
