India's semiconductor consumption to cross $80 bn by 2026, $110 bn by 2034: PM Modi

Inaugurating India's maiden three-day semiconductor conference, SemiconIndia 2022 at Bengaluru today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to support the semiconductor industry in the future as well. He stated the new world order is forming and India must seize the opportunity. India's consumption of semiconductors will cross $80 billion by 2026 and $110 billion by 2030.

Speaking at the conference, PM Modi said, "I'm glad that such a conference is being hailed in India. After all, semiconductors are playing a critical role in the world in more ways than we can imagine. It is our collective aim to establish India as one of the key partners in global semiconductor supply chains. We want to work in this direction based on the principle of high tech, high quality and high reliability."

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He also highlighted the reasons why India is an attractive investment destination for semiconductor technology.

"First, we are building the digital infrastructure to connect over 1.3 billion Indians. You have all heard of India's financial inclusion, banking and digital payment revolutions. UPI is the world's most efficient payment infrastructure today. We are using digital technology. To transform all sectors of governance from health and welfare to inclusion and empowerment. We are one of the largest consumers of data per capita and we continue to grow," the PM asserted.

He pointed out that the way is being paved for India to lead the next technology revolution.

"We are on our way to connecting 600,000 villages with broadband.  We are investing in developing capacities in 5G, IoT and clean energy technologies.  We are working to unleash the next wave of innovation in data. AI and other technologies," he said.

Thirdly, PM Modi said that India is headed for a robust economic growth.

"We have the world's fastest-growing start-up [industry]. New unicorns are coming up every few weeks." He also pointed out that India's consumption of semiconductors is expected to gross $80 billion by 2026. And $110 billion by 2030.

The fourth point he highlighted was that India has undertaken wide-ranging reforms for improving the ease of doing business in India.

"Last year, we had abolished more than 25,000 compliances and gave a push towards auto-renewal of licenses. Similarly, digitisation is also bringing speed and transparency to the regulatory framework. Today, we have one of the most favourable taxation structures in the world."

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The country is investing heavily in skilling and training young Indians for the needs of the 21st century, Modi asserted.

"India also has an exceptional semiconductor design talent which makes up to 20 per cent of the world's semiconductor design engineers. Almost all top of 25 per cent semiconductor design companies have R&D centres in the country," he said.

India has undertaken several measures to transform the Indian manufacturing sector. India's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, offer incentives of over $26 billion in 14 key sectors. Over the next five years, the electronics manufacturing sector is expected to see record growth.

"We recently announced the Semicon India programme with a total outlay of over $10 billion. This programme aims to provide financial support to companies investing in semiconductors, display manufacturing," Modi said. He argued that for India's semiconductor ecosystem to flourish, there is a need to ensure adequate support from the government.

Putting India's approach in the semiconductor language, PM Narendra Modi said, "In earlier lives, industries were ready to do the work but the government was like 'NOT Gate'. When any input flowed into the NOT gate, it gets negated. But we understand that the government must be like the 'And Gate'. While the industry works hard, the government must work even harder. I would like to ensure we will continue to support even further."

In technical terms, A NOT gate is a logic gate that inverts the digital input signal. An AND gate, on the other hand, is a logic gate having two or more inputs and a single output.

PM Modi ended the session by asserting that India means business and he is looking forward to practical solutions and how India can move towards becoming a semiconductor hub for the world in the coming years.