New Delhi: After the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme helped India become the world’s second-largest smartphone exporter, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) aims to replicate the same with the 4-day Semicon India conference at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi. Inaugurated by PM Modi, the conference will be attended by representatives from leading semiconductor manufacturers, including Micron, Sandisk, SK Hynix, TSMC and Nvidia.
Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi inaugurates #SemiconIndia2025 in the presence of Delhi CM Smt. Rekha Gupta, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw and Minister of Commerce and Industry, Shri Jitin Prasada. pic.twitter.com/3c98IBBWoP
— SEMI India (@SEMIIndia) September 2, 2025
The numbers
About 350 exhibitors, 2,500+ delegates and more than 150 speakers are expected to participate in the event, with a focus on developing India’s semiconductor ecosystem. The attendees will discuss the progress of the Semicon India programme, along with investment opportunities, state-level policy implementations, infrastructure readiness and other opportunities and challenges.
The event is expected to boost the Semicon India Programme, launched in 2021 with almost Rs.76,000 crore in incentives for the sector.
“We consume about USD 24 billion worth of semiconductors, and it is expected to rise to upwards of USD 100-120 billion by 2030. When India starts to produce those chips, our share will definitely rise,” Sandeep Kumar, CEO of L&T Semiconductor Technologies Ltd, told ANI on the sidelines of the conference.
“Making semiconductors requires collaboration of multiple companies. This forum is to create an ecosystem so that we can create hundreds of these companies in India, enable the entrepreneurs and enable the bigger companies,” he added.
Currently, the MeiTY has approved 10 chip production projects in the country, utilising almost 97% of the funds earmarked for incentives in the sector.
Current status of India’s semiconductor industry
India has been quite late in the semiconductor sector, which is the brain behind every electronic equipment we use, from our smartphones to cars to aeroplanes and high-end precision electronics. Most of the semiconductor fabrication units or ‘fabs’ are currently produced in Taiwan and South Korea, accounting for almost 85% of the market share.
Though India is only getting into semiconductor manufacturing seriously only recently, most leading semiconductor companies have robust R&D operations in India, where teams collaborate with their US counterparts to take on critical execution work including fine-tuning electronic design automation tools, stimulating and testing chips and other crucial designing and testing processes done before they are sent for manufacturing. To encourage this further, the government had already sanctioned 23 chip design projects under the DLI scheme worth Rs.62,900 crore.
At the event, PM Modi was presented with the first indigenous semiconductor chip ‘Vikram’ developed by ISRO’s semiconductor lab, for use in harsh conditions.
With PM Modi’s blessings, the central government aims to attract further investments into semiconductor manufacturing, hoping to gain a foothold in the market. Will this conference emerge as a lynchpin for the government’s next Semicon 2.0 initiative? The jury is still out.
