India's chip push shifts focus to manufacturing talent

India has formally kicked off the second leg of its semiconductor push, with the government notifying all six pillars of Semicon 2.0 earlier this week. The programme widens the focus from chip design and fabrication to machines and materials, advanced packaging, R&D and talent development, as India seeks to make good a late start in an industry that is becoming increasingly critical to the global economy.

Semicon 2.0 seeks to build on a first phase that focussed on the building blocks: under the India Semiconductor Mission 1.0, 12 manufacturing projects involving investments of more than Rs 1.64 lakh crore have been approved, with three companies starting commercial production. On the design side, 24 projects have been approved for financial support and 105 startups and MSMEs have received access to industry-standard chip-design tools.