Prime Minister Narendra Modi is courting global semiconductor and chipmaking companies at Semicon 2026, an annual industry conference being held in India. The event is the latest in a series of moves by the Indian government over the past four to five years to position the country as a hub for precision and high-technology manufacturing, particularly in semiconductors and electronics.
India had previously announced around $10 billion in subsidies aimed at building domestic chip and electronics manufacturing capacity. That programme helped draw investment from global companies, including Apple, AMD and others. The Semicon 2026 push appears intended to build on that earlier effort by seeking fresh commitments from global semiconductor and chip manufacturers.
And the push seems to be yielding results. Newer commitments have already been announced, with Chip-equipment maker Applied Materials set to invest $5 billion in India over the next decade. Lam Research, a competitor to Applied Materials, has committed close to $1 billion in a local manufacturing facility, COO Sesha Varadarajan announced. These commitments come just months after India announced a $20Bn subsidy plan for companies looking to set up semiconductor and smartphone manufacturing in the country.
Alongside efforts to attract foreign investment, large Indian conglomerates are also entering semiconductor manufacturing. Tata Group, one of India’s largest business houses, is setting up new chip factories as part of this push. Tata has already begun chip assembly operations, marking an early but concrete step in the country’s move up the semiconductor value chain from assembly towards fabrication.
Semiconductor manufacturing is capital-intensive and technologically demanding, and India has historically lagged behind established hubs such as Taiwan, South Korea and the United States. Modi’s pitch at Semicon 2026 is aimed at closing that gap by combining state subsidies with participation from large domestic conglomerates, who in turn bring on global partners to accelerate development.