India’s semiconductor industry is entering its next phase of growth across manufacturing, equipment, research, talent and chip design, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday, as Dutch semiconductor equipment major ASML begins developing a local supply chain in the country.
At SEMICON India 2026, several global semiconductor companies outlined investment and expansion plans for India. Vaishnaw also met Wayne Allan, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategic Sourcing and Procurement Officer at ASML, who discussed the company’s plans to expand its presence in the country.
“We need to build a supply chain before we can do manufacturing because we don’t want to be shipping parts in for manufacturing. We want to be able to build a supply chain locally, so this is going to take some time,” Allan said during the interaction with Vaishnaw.
He said ASML had begun engaging with potential suppliers in India and that the initial response had been encouraging. The company is also engaging with industry peers, including Applied Materials and Lam Research, to draw on their experience in the Indian market.
“We are just getting started, so we are getting names of suppliers and starting to have those engagements now. This is quite encouraging already,” Allan said.
Vaishnaw said the next phase of the government’s semiconductor programme, Semicon 2.0, would focus on developing a skilled workforce, including plans to train one lakh technicians for semiconductor manufacturing.
“Young people who want to join the semiconductor manufacturing sector will undergo systematic training programmes aligned with industry requirements, enabling them to work in factories being established under the Semicon Mission,” he said.
The minister said a stable foundation had been established for India’s semiconductor industry and that growth was now taking place across multiple segments.
“A stable foundation has been established for the semiconductor industry in India, and future growth is now unfolding across various areas—including materials, machines, new fabs, new ATMP units, R&D, talent, and design,” he said.
Vaishnaw said India’s design capabilities and talent pool were positioning the country as a major global destination for semiconductor design and manufacturing.
“Considering India’s design capabilities and the talent available in the country, the world wants India to emerge as a major semiconductor destination, both for design and manufacturing,” he said.
The SEMICON India 2026 is being held from September 17 to 19 at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in Delhi. The three-day event focuses on India’s semiconductor and electronics ecosystem and is being held under the theme “Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem”.
(ANI Inputs)