At the fourth edition of Semicon India 2025 in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called semiconductors the “digital diamonds” of the 21st century and outlined India’s rapid progress in the sector.
“In 2021, we started the Semicon India programme. By 2023, India’s first semiconductor plant was approved. In 2024, we approved some more plants. In 2025, we cleared five more projects. In total, $18 billion is being invested in 10 projects of semiconductors,” Modi said.
He added that India was moving from a back-end hub to a “full-stack semiconductor nation.” Referring to recent milestones, the Prime Minister noted, “The pilot plant of CG Power began 4-5 days ago, on 28th August. The pilot plant for Cades is also about to begin. Test chips are already coming out of Micron and Tata. As I have said earlier, commercial chips will start coming out this year.”
The Prime Minister also linked the semiconductor mission to India’s broader economic trajectory. “Oil was black gold, but chips are digital diamonds. The global market of semiconductors is reaching $600 billion, and in the next few years it will reach $1 trillion. India is going to play an important role in this 1 trillion market share,” he said.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw presented the Prime Minister with the Vikram 32-bit processor, developed by ISRO’s Semiconductor Laboratory and certified for launch vehicles, along with 28 student-designed chips fabricated at the Mohali semiconductor hub.
Vaishnaw highlighted progress across manufacturing and talent development. “Construction of five semiconductor units is going on at a rapid pace. Pilot line of one unit is completed and we just presented the first made-in-India chip to the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Two more units will start production in a few months,” he said.
On workforce development, he added, “By now, 60,000 engineering students have already worked on these EDA tools for more than 13 million hours and the 17 student teams who have designed the chips and taped them out, these chips were today presented to the Hon’ble Prime Minister.”
Industry leaders from across the globe also addressed the gathering.
Christophe Fouquet, CEO of ASML, said: “Semiconductors are the critical enablers of the modern world. From powering mobile phones, medical devices to advanced manufacturing and AI. Today semiconductors are everywhere. Tomorrow AI will be everywhere. We see in India a partner with great potential and we are committed to helping you as we shape the future of technology.”
Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI, described India’s momentum as “unprecedented.” He said: “We have representation from 48 countries and close to 1,275 booths. Last year it was 650 booths. It took Semicon in the US 14 years to come to the 1,300 mark level and it took China 13 years. India in two years we had 1,300 booths. That is unprecedented.”
Timothy M. Archer, CEO of Lam Research, reaffirmed the company’s commitment: “We see India laying a foundation for a resilient semiconductor ecosystem. We are making good progress integrating India into our global supply chain ecosystem… In India, we’ve enrolled more than 60 universities in collaboration with the India Semiconductor Mission with a goal of training 60,000 engineers over 10 years.”
Kai Beckmann, CEO of Merck, pointed to the importance of materials: “High quality materials are essential for computer chip production, as the manufacturing process relies on over 500 chemicals and 50 gases, often requiring electronic grade purity exceeding 99.999%. We are dedicated to supporting India’s growth by leveraging our expertise and know-how.”
Applied Materials’ President, Dr. Prabhu Raja, said semiconductors were critical for the AI era: “For artificial intelligence to reach its full potential, we need to solve a fundamental problem: how do we innovate more powerful and more energy efficient semiconductors? Applied Materials and India have an essential role to play in making this possible.”
AMD CTO Mark Papermaster emphasised India’s role in its global operations: “At AMD, India is an integral part of our global development. We have developed here engineering talent that is touching every one of our products across CPUs, GPUs, adaptive computing, and embedded devices.”
Toshiki Kawai, CEO of Tokyo Electron, said: “Through our expertise as a semiconductor manufacturing equipment company and Japanese technology, I would like to contribute to India’s semiconductor industry and realise Make in India. So we will do our best.”
Alexander Gorsky, COO of Infineon Technologies, said: “India is rapidly emerging as a hub for semiconductor innovation. We will make sure to be a driving force in the nation’s rapidly growing semiconductor ecosystem. Together, we will follow our mission to drive decarbonisation and digitalisation for a world worth living.”
Sriram Vishwanathan, Managing Partner of Celesta Capital, announced the India Deep Tech Alliance: “At launch, members have made more than $1 billion in total capital commitment. IDTA is designed to mobilise private capital and expertise to build category-defining deep tech companies from India that will serve the world.”
The three-day conference aims to strengthen India’s semiconductor ecosystem and highlight its growing role in the global supply chain.