INTRO
India’s Semicon 2.0 will target at least 200 semiconductor chip design startups and companies, building on progress under its earlier mission.
NEW DELHI
India will target at least 200 startups and companies engaged in semiconductor chip design under the next phase of its semiconductor mission, Semicon 2.0, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday.
Speaking at the inaugural session of SEMICON India 2026, Vaishnaw said chip design would be the first of six pillars under the upgraded programme. During Semicon 1.0, more than 105 startups attempted chip design, with around 20 securing venture capital funding of about Rs 800 crore.
“That was just the beginning. This time our ambition is much bigger,” Vaishnaw said, adding that the government would support design activity across the full range of semiconductor requirements.
Semicon 2.0 will focus on six areas: chip design; machines and materials; additional fabrication units; advanced packaging; industry-driven research and development with academia; and talent development. The fabrication focus will cover display, memory, silicon, compound and logic chips.
Vaishnaw highlighted progress in advanced packaging, including a 3D facility being developed in Odisha, while stressing the need for further scale-up.
On talent, he said 70,000 design engineers had already been trained in four years against a 10-year target of 85,000 under the earlier phase. More than 400 universities now have access to leading electronic design automation tools.
Under Semicon 2.0, the government also aims to develop one lakh skilled technicians and factory-floor personnel for upcoming semiconductor plants.
Vaishnaw said the mission would build on the ecosystem created under Semicon 1.0 and support India’s long-term semiconductor ambitions.
The minister also recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s guidance to focus on developing a long-term semiconductor ecosystem rather than concentrating only on short-term fabrication targets.
