SEMICON India 2026: The next test of India's chip ambition

When the first SEMICON India conference was held in Bengaluru in 2022, India’s semiconductor ambitions were still largely on paper. The government had just announced a Rs 76,000-crore incentive programme to build a domestic semiconductor and display manufacturing ecosystem, and the industry was being asked to bet on India as a new chipmaking destination.

There were plenty of reasons to be cautious, given earlier failed attempts involving the likes of Intel, AMD, and Tower Semiconductor. But some of those doubts have begun to fade. Under the Semicon 1.0 policy initiative, the first projects are being built, packaging operations are moving towards production, and global chip companies have expanded their design and R&D presence in the country. India has shown that its semiconductor push is moving beyond policy announcements and into real projects.

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The biggest names in leading-edge wafer fabrication and advanced packaging are still largely absent from India’s manufacturing landscape. Companies that dominate global semiconductor manufacturing continue to watch the opportunity carefully, while equipment, materials, design, and technology firms are exploring where they could fit into the emerging ecosystem.

This is the stage of India’s semiconductor journey that SEMICON India 2026 aims to take forward when its fifth edition opens in New Delhi on September 17.

Ashok Chandak, President, SEMI India and IESA, told Business Today, “In 2022 and 2023, companies were assessing whether India could become a credible semiconductor destination. In 2026, they are asking much more practical questions: Where are the opportunities? What capabilities already exist? Who are the potential customers and partners? How quickly can projects scale? And how can India become part of their global supply chains?”

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Beyond fabs: Building the ecosystem

Those questions are becoming more relevant as India enters the next phase of its semiconductor policy. In July, the government approved Semicon 2.0, with an outlay of Rs 1.27 lakh crore. While the first phase focused largely on getting foundational projects off the ground, the second seeks to fill the gaps around them. The programme expands the country’s semiconductor push beyond fabs and packaging plants to areas including chip design, semiconductor equipment and materials, research and development, and talent.

This broader ambition is reflected in the theme for SEMICON India 2026: “Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem.”

Chandak explains that ‘Silicon to Systems’ means building an end-to-end ecosystem where India can design, manufacture, package, and integrate chips, and ultimately create globally competitive electronic products.

The semiconductor value chain, he points out, is deeply interconnected. It begins with design and IP, moves through manufacturing, packaging, and testing, and is supported by equipment, materials, gases, and chemicals. At the other end, it connects to system integration and to the electronic products in which those semiconductors are used.

India already has significant strength in semiconductor design and is now building manufacturing and OSAT capabilities. The next challenge is to strengthen what sits around them, including equipment and materials, advanced packaging, substrates, compound semiconductors, system integration, and other critical supply-chain capabilities.

The objective, therefore, should not simply be to manufacture more chips, but to increase the value created in India at every stage of the semiconductor-to-electronics value chain.

Global interest in India deepens

The scale of participation at SEMICON India has grown significantly as the global semiconductor industry takes a closer look at the country. This year, the event will see participation from more than 300 Indian companies and over 100 international companies, according to the India Semiconductor Mission. The conference and exhibition will also feature six country pavilions, representation from more than nine states, and a dedicated workforce development area.

“The country pavilions and roundtables at SEMICON India are particularly important. Countries such as Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, and Sweden bring complementary capabilities across different parts of the semiconductor value chain. The objective is to create connections between these ecosystems and Indian companies,” Chandak added.

He describes the change in confidence around India as the “currency of trust”. That trust, he says, gives global companies greater confidence to look at India not just as a market, but as a potential partner for manufacturing, technology, R&D, and supply-chain development.

India is not building its semiconductor ecosystem in isolation. The ambition is to become an important node in global semiconductor networks, serving both the rapidly growing Indian market and customers around the world.