Introduction

India wants to be a semiconductor hub to cut import dependence, secure supply chains for electronics and autos, create high‑skill jobs, and capture a fast‑growing domestic chip market that could reach about $100 billion by 2030.

Body

Challenges Faced by the Semiconductor Industry

• High capital cost: A modern fab needs investments of $10–20 billion with multi‑year gestation;
  • Eg: The Tata Electronics–Powerchip (PSMC) greenfield fab at Dholera was cleared with about ₹91,000 crore.
• Energy & Water Requirement: Semiconductor fabs need stable power and ~2 million litres/day of ultra-pure water per fab.
• Human Resource crunch: India has strong chip design talent but fewer trained process, equipment, and yield engineers for 24×7 fab lines.
  • Eg: Talent often migrates to the USA, Taiwan, and South Korea.
• Supply chain and export‑control risks: Heavy import dependence for equipment, specialty gases, and wafers exposes projects to geopolitical shocks.
  • Eg: USA-India tariff tension, India-China unbalanced tie-ups.
• Intense global competition: India competes with Taiwan, South Korea, the United States, and China, all offering deep subsidies and supplier ecosystems.

Way out: India can become a semiconductor hub by assuring long-term subsidies, reliable low-cost power and water, training fab-ready talent through cleanroom programs and labs, partnering for process technology while localizing chemicals, gases, and spare parts to reduce disruptions.

India Semiconductor Mission

The India Semiconductor Mission launched in 2021 is the nodal program with a ₹76,000 crore outlay to connect policy to projects in a way to build an end‑to‑end ecosystem for the semiconductor industry.

Salient Features of Indian Semiconductor Mission (ISM)

• Large fiscal support: Up to about 50% fiscal support for approved semiconductor fabs on an equal rate basis, with parallel schemes for display and design.
• End‑to‑end scope: Covers wafer fabrication, display manufacturing, ATMP (Assembly, Test, Mark, and Pack), and semiconductor design to integrate India into global value chains.
• Expert‑led governance: Envisioned to be led by global industry experts to ensure technical due diligence and credible execution.
• Project pipeline: Ten approved projects across six states, including the first commercial Silicon Carbide fab and advanced packaging units, totaling about ₹1.60 lakh crore.
• Design push: Support for next‑gen chip design, including 3 nm design centers, and a roadmap for advanced 3D packaging to move up the value chain.
• R&D and talent linkages: Collaboration with research institutions and academia to develop technology and skilled manpower aligned to industry needs.
• Flagship investments: Examples include Tata Electronics–PSMC fab at Dholera and Micron’s Sanand ATMP unit, anchoring ecosystem build‑out.

Conclusion

While challenges are significant, ISM’s financial support, skill development, ecosystem promotion, and innovation partnerships provide a robust framework to make India a globally competitive and self-reliant semiconductor hub.

DOWNLOAD PDF