PM says India-made chips have started reaching world: Where Semiconductor Mission stands

The first phase of India's semiconductor programme has moved from approvals and construction to commercial production.

"Now our chips, coming out of India's plants, have started reaching customers in the country and the world," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, inaugurating the fifth edition of the Semicon India conference in New Delhi. Pitching India as a trusted alternative for global manufacturing, he said the country was "taking every step needed to become a preferred destination for the semiconductor industry".

The first phase of India's semiconductor programme has moved from approvals and construction to commercial production. Five of the 12 projects approved under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 1.0 now produce chips or packaged semiconductor products, and the other seven are at various stages of construction and development. All five producing units are packaging plants; the programme's three fabs, where the chips themselves are made, are expected to start production between 2027 and 2029.

At the event, Modi virtually inaugurated Suchi Semicon's facility in Surat, Gujarat, and CDIL's facility in Mohali, Punjab, both of which began commercial production on Thursday.

The 12 projects, approved between 2023 and 2026, represent an investment of more than ₹1.64 lakh crore. The government classifies them as one silicon fab, one silicon-carbide fab, one integrated gallium-nitride (GaN) Micro-LED fab and nine packaging units.

How advanced are India's chips?

Fabs etch circuits onto silicon wafers at a given node. The node, measured in nanometres (nm), denotes a generation of manufacturing technology; the smaller the number, the more densely transistors are packed on a chip and the more capable it is. The world's most advanced processors are made at 3nm and 2nm --- Apple’s A20pro chips on its latest iPhones, for instance, are 2nm.

India's own chipmaking is at far larger nodes. The state-owned Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali, which the government describes as the only facility in the country that can handle the whole chipmaking process from design to testing, runs a 180nm production line and is being upgraded to cover nodes from 28nm to 180nm. Nodes do not apply to packaging plants such as the five now in commercial production. The most advanced node in the ISM 1.0 pipeline is 28nm, at the Tata-PSMC fab in Dholera, which will become India's most sophisticated chipmaking facility once it starts production.

The government has said it has chosen to start with mature nodes, which supply chips for cars, power systems, industrial equipment and consumer electronics, and to use them to build up plants, suppliers and a trained workforce before moving to more advanced manufacturing and research.

The second phase of the mission, ISM 2.0, is meant to take that step. Its plans include a roadmap to the 3nm and 2nm nodes and support for at least 50 fabless companies, which design chips and outsource their manufacture.