New Delhi [India], July 4 (ANI): India is moving beyond its long-standing role as a global chip design hub and beginning to build domestic semiconductor manufacturing capabilities, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and a global reordering of semiconductor supply chains create new opportunities for the country, according to a thematic report by Equirus Securities.
The report said India, which has spent decades designing chips for global companies while importing nearly every semiconductor it consumed, is now entering “the next chapter” by building capabilities across fabrication, packaging, and testing.
“For two decades India’s place in semiconductors has been defined by design… This note is about the next chapter, the move from design talent toward full-stack capability as India begins to fabricate, package and test chips on home soil,” the report said.
According to the report, the global semiconductor market is projected to grow from approximately $775 billion to $1.6 trillion by 2030, driven by artificial intelligence, electrification, and digital infrastructure. It added that the changing geopolitical landscape has positioned India as a trusted manufacturing partner.
“A global chip market on course to grow from about US$775 billion to US$1.6 trillion by CY30 is being rewired by a geopolitical reordering of where chips are made, and India has emerged as a trusted partner,” the report said.
The brokerage said India’s semiconductor strategy now spans the entire value chain through the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), support for semiconductor packaging and component manufacturing, and incentives for chip design and workforce development. It noted that projects worth more than $21 billion have already been approved, including Micron’s Sanand Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) facility, Kaynes Semicon’s Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) unit, and the Tata-PSMC fabrication plant in Dholera.
Rather than competing immediately in leading-edge chip manufacturing, India is focusing on 28- to 110-nanometer technologies and semiconductor packaging, where it holds stronger commercial advantages. The report said India has approximately 300,000 chip designers—about one-fifth of the global semiconductor design workforce—while domestic semiconductor consumption is expected to more than double to about $155 billion by 2031.
“India is building where its advantages are real,” the report said.
However, the report cautioned that the country’s semiconductor journey will take time. It noted that India still imports more than 90 percent of its semiconductor equipment, along with most specialty chemicals and gases, while advanced manufacturing below the 7-nanometer process remains absent.
“The constraints are real and the horizon is long,” the report said, adding that “the binding risk is execution rather than strategy” as India remains “roughly year five of a twenty-year build.” (ANI)
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