India will become a manufacturer of semiconductors this year-its first chips will be 28-nm

The Indian semiconductor market is poised for rapid growth, with its capacity expected to reach $63 billion by 2026. India is poised to make a leap in the global technology scene, with the first Indian-made chips set to debut this year. Although they will be produced on a far from modern 28-nm process technology, this will be a significant step forward, because such chips are widely used in the automotive industry, consumer electronics and the Internet of things.

Image source: Micron

The first “Made in India” chips were initially planned to be released in December 2024, but then the production start date was pushed back to August-September 2025. The semiconductor plant will reach full capacity in 2026 with the support of the Taiwanese company Powerchip and the Indian industrial group Tata.

The first Indian chips will be produced on a 28-nanometer process. Of course, this technology process is extremely far from the advanced 2-nm processes of the leading global chips manufacturers. Nevertheless, the 28-nm chips are widely used and are very in demand in various industries, including automotive, household and industrial electronics and not only.

«Our first chip will be released this year and we are now looking at the next phase where we can get OEMs, material manufacturers and designers in India. For materials, we need to move from ppm purity to ppb purity levels. This requires huge transformative changes in the process and the industry is working to achieve this,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

India is actively working to develop its semiconductor industry, driven by growing global demand for chips and the government’s desire to position the country as a reliable alternative to Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers. In particular, an independent business unit, India Semiconductor Mission, has been launched as part of the Digital India Corporation. With administrative and financial autonomy, the company will pursue long-term semiconductor and display manufacturing strategies and contribute to the creation of a chip design ecosystem.

India plans to attract significant foreign investments. NXP Semiconductors is going to invest more than $ 1 billion in the R&D of semiconductors. Analog devices, together with Tata Group, is studying the possibilities of chips. Micron Technology builds in India a assembly and testing plant worth $ 2.75 billion.