The Chip Crisis That Sparked India’s Biggest Tech Mission Yet
Like most things in this decade, it began in the COVID era.
Tata Motors’ electric car sales stalled at 5%—when they could’ve hit 9%. Auto production dragged for months.
0.1% of the world’s wafers, despite contributing 6.5% of global chip demand.
In 2021, the government launched the ₹76,000 crore India Semiconductor Mission
The domestic market is set to grow at 15–19.7% CAGR, reaching $80.3 billion by 2028.
Over 1 million semiconductor jobs are expected by 2026.
20 of the top 25 global semiconductor firms already operate design centers in India, giving us a powerful design edge.
Cadence and MeitY are working to train 85,000 engineers by 2027.
Next-gen AI systems demand advanced, custom-designed chips to operate at scale, while semiconductor workflows increasingly leverage AI
Like most things in this decade, it began in the COVID era.
Global supply chains collapsed. Demand for chips surged 13%..fueled by online learning,remote work and a digital reset across industries.
EVs took a direct hit
Tata Motors’ electric car sales stalled at 5%—when they could’ve hit 9%. Auto production dragged for months. Smartphones and laptops ran into months-long waitlists. Even basic connectivity was at risk.
And in all of this, India had no fallback.
We made just 0.1% of the world’s wafers, despite contributing 6.5% of global chip demand.So what did we do?
In 2021, the government launched the ₹76,000 crore India Semiconductor Mission
Aiming to position India as a global hub for electronics manufacturing, with semiconductors as the foundational layer.
Projects by Micron, Tata, and Kaynes are now underway—with a combined chip output projected at 7 crore units/day. The domestic market is set to grow at 15–19.7% CAGR, reaching
Yet here’s the bottleneck: Fabs are rising faster than talent.
Over 1 million semiconductor jobs are expected by 2026. In fact, 20 of the top 25 global semiconductor firms already operate design centers in India, giving us a powerful design edge. Meanwhile, Cadence and MeitY are working to train 85,000 engineers by 2027, aligning academia with enterprise demand.
And here’s the bigger picture: Next-gen AI systems demand advanced, custom-designed chips to operate at scale
While semiconductor workflows increasingly leverage AI for layout optimization, verification, and design automation. It’s a symbiotic relationship—and one that will only deepen in the decade ahead.
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