India’s semiconductor ambitions move from policy to production as SEMICON India 2026 opens

NEW DELHI: India’s semiconductor ambitions are set to take centre stage as Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates SEMICON India 2026 at Yashobhoomi in Dwarka on September 17. The three-day event, being held under the theme “Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem”, brings together global chipmakers, policymakers, investors, technology companies and researchers at a time when India’s semiconductor programme is moving from policy announcements to manufacturing on the ground.

The event comes against the backdrop of a sharp expansion in India’s electronics manufacturing capabilities. The country, which had limited semiconductor and electronics manufacturing capacity a decade ago, is now seeking to build the wider ecosystem required to design, manufacture, package and test chips domestically.

Why semiconductors matter

Semiconductors have become the foundation of virtually every modern technology industry. Chips power smartphones, automobiles, aircraft, drones, medical equipment, satellites and defence systems. The global electronics industry is valued at around $4.3 trillion and continues to expand, with semiconductors forming the technological foundation of this ecosystem.

The strategic importance of semiconductor manufacturing became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, when automobile factories and other industries were forced to suspend production because of chip shortages. The disruption prompted countries to reassess their dependence on overseas semiconductor supply chains and accelerate efforts to establish domestic capacity.

For India, the semiconductor push builds on a much larger transformation in electronics manufacturing.

In 2014-15, India produced around ₹1.9 lakh crore worth of electronic goods. By 2025-26, production had risen to ₹13.11 lakh crore, a sevenfold increase. Electronics exports increased from around ₹38,000 crore to ₹4.24 lakh crore during the same period.

The mobile phone industry has registered an even more dramatic expansion. Production increased from ₹18,000 crore to ₹6.27 lakh crore, while exports rose from about ₹1,500 crore to ₹2.59 lakh crore. Smartphones, which did not figure among India’s top 100 exported goods in 2014, became the country’s largest exported commodity in FY 2025-26, ahead of petroleum products and gems and jewellery. India now manufactures 99.2% of the mobile phones it uses, while the electronics manufacturing ecosystem supports about 2.5 million jobs.

From Semicon 1.0 to Semicon 2.0

The next phase of the strategy began with the Semicon India programme in 2021. The approach was designed to build an ecosystem covering the semiconductor value chain rather than establish isolated manufacturing facilities.

Semicon 1.0 was launched with an outlay of ₹76,000 crore, covering chip design and fabrication as well as packaging, testing, equipment, materials and skilled manpower. In July 2026, the government approved Semicon 2.0 with a substantially expanded outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore.

The expanded programme rests on six broad pillars: chip design; semiconductor equipment and materials; fabrication facilities; advanced packaging; research and development; and talent development.

The progress is increasingly visible in actual projects. Twelve semiconductor projects have been approved across six states, with investment commitments exceeding ₹1.64 lakh crore. The projects cover silicon and compound semiconductor fabrication, display fabrication and advanced packaging. Three facilities have already commenced commercial production, marking a shift from semiconductor policy on paper to manufacturing activity on the ground.

Building India’s chip-design talent

Manufacturing capacity alone cannot create a sustainable semiconductor ecosystem. India also needs a large pool of engineers capable of designing increasingly complex chips.

The government has set a target of developing 85,000 skilled semiconductor engineers within this decade. Under the Chips to Startup programme, Electronic Design Automation tools have been deployed across 320 academic institutions, with more than 68,000 students trained. In addition, 24 semiconductor design projects have received financial support, while 105 startups and MSMEs have received EDA tool support under the Design Linked Incentive scheme.

By April 2026, 75 institutions had taped out 211 chips. Seven of these had been fabricated at various technology nodes, including advanced nodes down to 12 nanometres.

The ChipIN Centre at C-DAC has emerged as a central facility for widening access to chip-design infrastructure. It provides advanced design tools, fabrication services and specialised training to engineers, academic institutions and startups.

According to the backgrounder, ChipIN has extended its facilities to more than one lakh engineers from over 500 organisations, including 400 academic institutions and 100 startups. These organisations have collectively developed more than 300 chip designs for fabrication at the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali and advanced foundries abroad, while recording more than four crore hours of chip-design tool usage.

India’s semiconductor ambitions go global

India’s semiconductor strategy is also increasingly linked to global supply-chain resilience. The country has formally joined the Pax Silica coalition, which brings together the United States and partner countries with a focus on securing the global silicon supply chain.

The initiative looks at the entire “silicon stack”, extending from critical minerals and fabrication to advanced AI systems and deployment infrastructure. For India, participation signals that its semiconductor ambitions are becoming part of the wider international effort to diversify supply chains and reduce excessive concentration of critical technologies and resources.

SEMICON India becomes a showcase of the ecosystem

Against this backdrop, SEMICON India 2026 is positioned as more than a conventional industry exhibition. The event will bring together more than 600 exhibitors and 300 international companies across 15,000 square metres, with more than 150 speakers.

Six country pavilions and 12 state pavilions will accompany a startup showcase, student hackathon, workforce development pavilion and Women forum, reflecting the different components of the semiconductor ecosystem that India has been building over the past five years.

The significance of the event lies ultimately in what comes after the exhibition. Semiconductor manufacturing requires long investment cycles, specialised talent, sophisticated equipment, reliable infrastructure and deep integration between design, fabrication, packaging, testing and downstream industries.

India’s electronics manufacturing expansion has demonstrated that the country can build scale. The semiconductor programme is now attempting to establish whether that scale can be extended to one of the world’s most strategically important and technologically demanding industries.

SEMICON India 2026 therefore arrives at an important inflection point. India is no longer simply seeking a place in the global electronics value chain. It is attempting to build the semiconductor capabilities that sit at its foundation — from chip design and fabrication to packaging, talent and global supply-chain partnerships.

As the backgrounder puts it, the ambition is no longer about waiting for the future. India is seeking to become a country that builds the chips on which that future depends.