PM Modi promotes India as semiconductor hub, talks of supply chain resilience

Greater Noida (UP): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday highlighted the critical importance of resilient supply chains for the global economy, making a strong case for boosting investments in India’s semiconductor manufacturing sector. Speaking at the SEMICON 2024 conference, held on the outskirts of the national capital, the Prime Minister emphasised that the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the vulnerability of supply chains and the need for nations to build mechanisms to avoid future disruptions.

“Whether it was COVID-19 or war, there hasn’t been a single industry that remained unaffected by supply chain disruptions,” Modi remarked. He underscored India’s central role in building resilience across various sectors and positioned the country as a crucial player in the global effort to safeguard supply chains.

“Resilience of the supply chain is very important. India is working to create the same in different sectors of the economy,” Modi stated. He pointed out how the halt in flights, factory shutdowns in China, and surges in demand for certain products broke global supply chains during the pandemic, severely impacting the semiconductor sector, a key component in all modern electronic devices.

The Prime Minister made a strong pitch for investments in India’s semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem, presenting the country’s reformist policies, stable business environment, and growing technological market as key reasons for investors to bet on India. “This is the right time to be in India. You are at the right place at the right time,” he said. Modi humorously added: “In 21st-century India, the chips are never down.”

He went on to state that India of today assures the world, “When the chips are down, you can bet on India.”

With the ongoing US-China trade war threatening to make chip imports more expensive, countries are increasingly looking to build domestic supplies of semiconductors, which are the foundation of critical technologies like smartphones, electric vehicles, and artificial intelligence. India, with its rapidly growing semiconductor market expected to reach $63 billion by 2026, is positioning itself as a future semiconductor powerhouse.

To attract investments, India has launched a Rs 76,000 crore program to entice chipmakers and suppliers, reducing reliance on imports from Taiwan and other countries. This program has already garnered nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore of investment, enabling the production of approximately 70 million chips per day.

Key investments include Tata’s partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp to establish India’s first chipmaking plant in Gujarat, worth Rs 91,526 crore. Additionally, Tata’s unit, Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test Pvt Ltd, is investing Rs 27,120 crore in Assam. US-based Micron Technology is also setting up a Rs 22,516 crore assembly facility in Gujarat, while Adani Group and Israel’s Tower Semiconductor are planning a Rs 83,947 crore chip plant in Maharashtra.

Modi further emphasised the significance of India’s growing semiconductor workforce, which is expected to include 85,000 technicians, engineers, and R&D professionals. He noted the three-dimensional strength of India’s reformist government, manufacturing base, and aspirational market, which makes the country an ideal destination for semiconductor investments.

“Our dream is that every device in the world will have an Indian-made chip,” the Prime Minister asserted, outlining his vision for India to become a global leader in semiconductor production. He concluded by saying that India’s electronic manufacturing sector, valued at over $150 billion, aims to grow to $500 billion by the end of the decade, creating millions of jobs and further fueling the nation’s semiconductor ambitions.