India has joined the global race to manufacture semiconductor chips domestically to grow into a major global supplier. Amidst this progress, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw outlined how the government is positioning India as a key global technology player.
The Minister informed that the semiconductor sector is expanding rapidly, driven by demand from artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and consumer electronics. India has made an early start with approvals for 10 semiconductor-related units. Four plants – CG Semi, Kaynes Technology, Micron Technology, and Tata Electronics’ Assam facility – are expected to commence commercial production in 2026.
He also highlighted the visible progress on the design and talent fronts. Currently, design initiatives involve 23 startups, while skill development programmes have been scaled across 313 universities. The domestic landscape is being strengthened by equipment manufacturers who are simultaneously setting up plants in India.
According to Vaishnaw, by 2028, these efforts are bound to make India a reckoning force in the global chip-making market. He said the period after 2028 would mark a decisive phase as industry growth reaches a tipping point. With manufacturing, design, and talent ecosystems in place, India aims to be among the major semiconductor hubs by 2032, including the capability to produce 3-nanometre chips, he added.
While addressing criticism that India’s AI growth is driven largely by global technology firms, Vaishnaw reiterated that sovereign AI remains a national goal. Indian engineers are working across all five layers of the AI stack – applications, models, chipsets, infrastructure, and energy. Twelve teams under the IndiaAI Mission are developing foundational models, several design teams are working on chipsets, and around $70 billion is being invested in infrastructure, supported by clean energy initiatives.
Subsequently, while responding to concerns on the utilisation of domestic OSAT and fabrication capacity, the minister said new industries inevitably face market-acceptance challenges. Success, he stated, will depend on the ability of Indian plants to deliver high-quality products at competitive prices.
