Currently valued at $45-50 billion, India’s semiconductor demand is expected to reach $100-110 billion by 2030, S Krishnan, Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said.
He was speaking at the first “Nano Electronics Roadshow” held at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Thursday, March 29, where he underscored the critical role of MeitY’s Nano Centres in fostering innovation and talent development, stating that the government is building a semiconductor-ready workforce of 85,000 professionals.
Krishnan highlighted that currently, nearly 70-75% of investments in major semiconductor facilities come from taxpayer money, making every Indian a stakeholder in this mission.
With 20% of the global semiconductor design workforce based in India, Krishnan said the success of the India Semiconductor Mission is a shared responsibility of the government, industry, and academia.
To further strengthen India’s semiconductor ecosystem, the senior official announced that the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme is being expanded beyond startups and MSMEs to attract global talent and co-invest with venture capitalists.
“The initiative aims to scale up semiconductor design and manufacturing by bringing in international expertise and funding, aligning with the India Semiconductor Mission, one of the world’s largest subsidy and grant programs,” Krishnan said.
Highlighting the role of nanoelectronics in shaping modern technology, Additional Secretary of MeitY, Abhishek Singh, pointed out that a single smartphone today contains 20 billion transistors, each smaller than a human hair, showcasing the rapid advancements in semiconductor technology.
He stressed the importance of industry-academia partnerships and how initiatives like the India AI Mission and Indian Nanoelectronics Users' Program (INUP) are enabling startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers to solve real-world challenges through cutting-edge research.
As part of the event, the Nano Centres set up by MeitY at IISc and IITs showcased over 100 intellectual properties (IPs), 50 groundbreaking technologies, and innovations from over 35 start-ups. The event also featured 48 live technology demonstrations by students, presenting next-generation innovations that could shape the future of semiconductors, AI, and supercomputing.
