Semiconductor and AI Revolution

Key Highlights:

• India is building capabilities in semiconductors and AI, aiming for technological self-reliance and global leadership.
• Semicon 1.0 laid the foundation with a ₹76,000 crore outlay, followed by Semicon 2.0 with ₹1,27,500 crore approved in July 2026.
• 12 semiconductor projects worth over ₹1.64 lakh crore have been approved, with three facilities already in commercial production.
• The IndiaAI Mission was approved with an outlay of about ₹10,372 crore to build a sovereign and inclusive AI ecosystem.
• IndiaAI Mission expanded shared compute capacity to 45,000+ Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) by June 2026.
• India ranked third globally in AI competitiveness and ecosystem vibrancy in the Stanford Global AI Vibrancy Report 2025.
• India joined the Pax Silica coalition at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 to strengthen resilient global silicon supply chains.

Detailed Insights:

• Semiconductors are the foundation of modern technology, with AI accelerating the demand for advanced chips and high-performance computing.
• Semicon 2.0 focuses on six strategic pillars: chip design, equipment and materials, fabrication, advanced packaging, R&D, and talent development.
• Approved semiconductor projects span silicon and compound semiconductor fabs, display fabrication, and advanced packaging facilities.
• The Chips to Startup (C2S) initiative has deployed Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools in 320 academic institutions and trained over 68,000 students.
• The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme supports 24 semiconductor design projects and 105 startups/MSMEs.
• Global partnerships with countries like the United States, Japan, and the European Union are strengthening technology collaboration and ecosystem development.
• The IndiaAI Mission aims to make AI a strategic capability for innovation, economic growth, and public service delivery.
• 20 indigenous foundational model proposals, including Large Multimodal Models and Small Language Models, have been selected to strengthen India’s AI capabilities.
• AI Kosh hosts over 14,000 datasets and 331 AI models, providing critical resources for building and scaling AI solutions.
• 58 Artificial Intelligence Centres of Excellence (AI CoEs) have been approved across States and Union Territories to strengthen domain-specific research.
• The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) established 25 Technology Innovation Hubs across leading academic institutions.
• 13 Responsible AI projects are tackling critical challenges like bias mitigation, deepfake detection, and privacy-preserving AI under the IndiaAI Mission.
• India's data center installed capacity has grown from 375 MW in 2020 to about 1,575 MW, supporting AI infrastructure.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Semiconductor fabs: Plants that build raw silicon wafers into functioning integrated circuits and microchips.
• Display fabrication: Plants that build flat and flexible screens for phones, cars, and gadgets.
• Advanced packaging: Methods that encase, wire, and shield fragile chips to make them run faster and last longer.
• Electronic Design Automation (EDA): Software platforms used to design, simulate, verify, and optimize semiconductor chips.
• Graphics Processing Unit (GPU): A specialized electronic processor designed to accelerate graphics, image processing, and data-intensive computing tasks.