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BUSINESS & TRADE DECEMBER 12, 2025 | The Indian Eye 24

India’s Semiconductor Shift:

From Assembly Lines to Advanced

Materials and Homegrown IP

India’s chip ecosystem is undergoing its most significant transformation yet,
moving from low-value assembly to deeper manufacturing, materials research and

the long road to building indigenous semiconductor IP

OUR BUREAU nese fabs, whose costs remain signifi-
cantly lower.
Mumbai
Despite the IP deficit, some mo-
ndia’s semiconductor landscape mentum is visible. Sandeep Wadhwa,
is entering a decisive second Executive Director, highlighted the
Iphase as industry leaders and emergence of at least 50 chip design
policymakers push the country be- IP entities in India, supported by ex-
yond assembly-led growth toward pensive design tools and specialised
high-value manufacturing, materials training. The government’s `76,000
capability, and long-term chip design crore National Semiconductor Mis-
autonomy. sion has also placed strong focus
The shift, industry veterans say, on talent development, with 16,000
is both structural and strategic. Vi- engineers currently being trained in
nod Sharma, Chairman of CII’s chip design.
National Committee on Electronics India is beginning to build indig-
Manufacturing and Managing Di- Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw chairs enous processors too, he said, point-
rector of Deki Electronics, described a high-level review meeting on the Semiconductor Fab Project and development of Dholera as ing to the development of domestic
India’s electronics journey as a “4 x Semicon City, in Gandhinagar on Monday. (@sanghaviharsh X/ANI Photo) GPU and CPU efforts, and the in-
400 metre relay race,” with the coun- terim creation of a processor named
try now firmly in its second leg. The OM. “Entire end-to-end ecosystem
first phase, he noted, was dominated being cleared at an accelerated pace, laboration and deep R&D to avoid is being prepared and amalgamating
by assembly expansion driven by the with MeitY processing “eight to ten repeating past failures. Jasbir Singh better. This progress is not theoreti-
Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) approvals every week.” Gujral, Managing Director of Syrma cal,” he said.
scheme. “The PLI for large-scale A key driver of this pivot is geo- SGS Technologies, warned that with- The government’s proposed `1
electronics did very well. We are now politics. India, like several econo- out unity in research, the sector risks lakh crore R&D Innovation (RDI)
coming to a sunset of that PLI,” he mies, is responding to China’s tight- stagnation. “If you don’t unite and fund is expected to play a major role
told ANI. ening control over critical materials R&D, we all will die in line with the in bridging the research gap. Sharma
What comes next is far more and rare earth elements. “The Chi- old TV industry,” he said. said the sector will urge the govern-
complex—and consequential. nese policy of weaponizing key sup- Gujral argued that India has ment to allocate a portion of this
Backed by sustained policy support ply chain material has triggered us to long been “harvesting low-hanging funding specifically for materials
through initiatives such as the India now take steps which will make us an fruits” but now faces a tougher en- research in electronics and semicon-
Semiconductor Mission (ISM), the Atmanirbhar Bharat,” Sharma said. vironment shaped by supply-chain ductors.
Electronic Component Manufactur- The government’s `7,600 crore ra- disruptions and global competition. While significant challenges re-
ing Scheme (ECMS), and a height- re-earth initiative is part of this push, “Government has done enough. Now main—particularly in IP creation,
ened geopolitical urgency to secure though Sharma cautioned that ca- industry has to introspect and identi- high-end manufacturing, and global
supply chains, India is now pushing pability-building in mining, refining fy the gaps,” he said. competitiveness—the direction of
into components and materials, ar- and applications will take time. India, One of the biggest gaps is IP. travel is clear. India’s semiconduc-
eas where it has traditionally been he added, is now exploring a wider Sanjay Gupta, India Country Head tor sector is no longer content with
dependent on imports. range of metals essential for chips and Chief Development Officer at being an assembly hub. With policy
Sharma said the ECMS has trig- and electronic components. L&T Semiconductor Technologies, backing, industry collaboration, and
gered unexpected investor enthusi- But materials are only one layer outlined the scale of the challenge. a growing talent pipeline, the country
asm. “The government has received of India’s semiconductor challenge. “India does not own a single IP,” he is attempting a technologically hard-
under the scheme almost twice the The other is intellectual property— said. Designing one, he noted, will er but strategically vital transition.
amount of investments they were long seen as the missing piece in In- take five to six years. Compounding India’s Semiconductor Mission
expecting,” he said, calling it a “very dia’s electronics ambitions. this is the dominance of Japanese has now approved a total of 10 fab
big compliment” to the policy as well At the ‘From Chips to Circuits’ and Western firms in foundational plants, marking a major step in the
as to global interest in India’s man- forum in New Delhi, industry leaders semiconductor technologies and the country’s pursuit of supply-chain resil-
ufacturing rise. Approvals, too, are underscored an urgent need for col- intense price competition from Chi- ience and technological self-reliance.

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