Semicon 2025: Fab Beginnings & A Long Road From Chip To Ecosystem

“The semiconductor industry is very complex. It is not something we can develop within a couple of months or years. It takes decades to build the capability,” Mani Prasad Athayil, GM, Orbit & Skyline Semiconductor, told The Secretariat. “Right now, India is at a stage where China was 15 or even 20 years ago. We are just beginning.”

On the exhibition floor at Yashobhoomi in Delhi, the chips were not hidden inside phones or laptops, but proudly displayed under glass. Making these tiny, powerful devices demands design, precious metals, gases, gloves, machines, packaging, and lithography (the process of etching circuits onto silicon with light), and each role in that chain was there.

Thin silicon wafers, the base on which chips are built, shimmered in concentric patterns. Processors were labelled like trophies, and packaging units stood in neat rows. For three days, India staged a show of intent. We’re a country that wants to make chips, not just consume them.

Despite the sobering consensus that India was entering the semiconductor industry late, the billions in subsidies anchored with a clear policy push from the government and industry point to building momentum even as the hardest work lies ahead.

Athayil was not alone in stressing the scale of the task. Chip factories, or fabs, require steady water and electricity, clean rooms free of dust, and a constant supply of gases, chemicals, and minerals. 

They also depend on highly trained technicians who can turn silicon wafers into circuits. “We have very good engineering talent in India, very smart people,” Athayil said. “We have the brain in India, but we don’t yet have the ecosystem.”

Fab Beginnings

India does, however, have a foundation to build on. The Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali is the country’s first fabrication facility, operating quietly since 1976 on strategic projects. 

“We are currently the only fab in India, and we have been delivering chips for over 20 years,” a representative of SCL told The Secretariat. “If you look at ISRO missions, all the strategic devices in the launch vehicles and satellites are provided by us.”

The chips made in Mohali are at the 180-nanometre level, far from the cutting-edge 3 or 5 nm nodes produced in Taiwan or South Korea, but their role is significant. 

“One of our major strengths is that we can design and develop multi-core devices. You need not have eight different devices; all of them are combined in one,” the SCL representative said.

SCL has also been moving to reduce dependence on imports. “We have started a plastic packaging line. It reduces cost and is a major step towards indigenisation,” the representative explained. 

At the exhibition, one of its new processors, the Vikram-32, was ceremonially handed over to the Prime Minister. 

Big Industry, Bigger Bets

In his keynote, Randhir Thakur, CEO and MD of Tata Electronics, emphasised the scale of India’s opportunity. “India has the talent, India has the market, and India now has the policy push,” he said at Semicon.

Behind the speech, Tata used the platform to signal that it is positioning itself as the anchor of India’s chip ambitions. A Tata executive, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Secretariat: “Tata is not approaching this as a single project but as a portfolio. It is investing not just in packaging, but also in fabs and design partnerships. The aim is to build a globally competitive chain that runs end-to-end from India.” 

As Thakur put it, “Because we are starting a little bit late, we have the opportunity to go across the whole space. Nothing is stopping us from being in one segment or the other.”

The caution is that none of this can be delivered quickly. Industry insiders estimate that even under the best circumstances, a fab takes four to five years to become operational. As the Tata executive put it, “It is not only about one company building a plant. It is about creating a supply ecosystem — materials, gases, trained technicians — that can scale with demand.”

Closing The Gaps

The word “ecosystem” surfaced in almost every discussion. Without suppliers of gases and chemicals, without companies making moulds for chip packaging, without universities producing skilled engineers, India’s ambition risks being limited to announcements. 

“Currently, we are not just talking about manufacturing, but about creating an entire ecosystem — providing tools, providing the gases, everything. The Government of India has been very supportive,” said the SCL representative.

The support is visible. The India Semiconductor Mission continues to fund fabs and packaging facilities. 

“ISM was a milestone, but ISM 2.0 must go beyond fabs and support suppliers and service businesses,” said Athayil. “There has to be a national awareness campaign. Right now, many business leaders think they can start a fab tomorrow with a blank cheque,” he said pointing to the need for this ecosystem. 

The industry is making waves on its own, too. At the event, a new Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) pilot line was launched in Gujarat. A partnership between the University at Albany in the United States and Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences in Bengaluru was announced to train students in semiconductor manufacturing.

The question is whether these efforts can be stitched together fast enough to turn intent into industrial depth.

A Long Road Ahead

The mood at Semicon India 2025 was neither naïve nor pessimistic. The engineers, executives and officials who filled Yashobhoomi understood that semiconductors are as much about patience as they are about investment. 

“Our goal is to enable India as a semiconductor player. And it is not easy. It is a very challenging time,” Athayil reflected.

The Prime Minister’s presence lent political weight. “In the coming times, we are going to start a new phase of next generation reforms," he told delegates. "We are also working on the next phase of the India Semiconductor Mission,” he announced. 

But as the wafers and processors returned to their glass cases, the message of the conference was less about instant breakthroughs and more about steady construction. India has shown it can put a chip on the table. The task now is to build the world around it.