‘India will eventually become an exporter of chips’

The global chip shortage during the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the need for geographically diverse manufacturing bases and led to India entering a transformative phase in the semiconductor sector. While fabrication facilities have now been announced, such as Tata Electronics’ plans to set up fabrication units, the foundation has long been laid. Electronic design automation and circuit design companies have operated in India for over four decades. Today, most major MNCs have R&D centres here, making the country a key hub for innovation. With the recent announcements by the central government, the advent of integrated testing and packaging facilities will enable India to reduce its dependency on imports and eventually become an exporter of chips.

This ecosystem is creating diverse opportunities in areas like analog, RF, and especially digital circuit design, as well as in semiconductor assembly, testing, packaging, device simulation, Process Design Kit (PDK) development, and measurement. There is a serious shortage of highly skilled manpower in all these areas, not only in India but across the world. These domains require specialised skills, and leading institutions like the IITs and other institutes are actively training students and conducting cutting-edge research in these areas. This will ensure the creation of a talent base of skilled semiconductor professionals and also an ecosystem where Indian students, who were seeking roles abroad, now find opportunities for their talent in India itself.

The author is the professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur