New Delhi: India’s ambitious Semiconductor Mission is witnessing major success, drawing global chip design companies to the country, thanks to its robust talent development strategy.

Union Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, and Electronics & IT, Ashwini Vaishnaw, highlighted the milestone during the inauguration of ARM’s new office in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Vaishnaw said that one of the key objectives of the mission was to build a strong and deep talent pipeline — an effort that is now bearing fruit. “Under the Semiconductor Mission, one of the major targets we have taken is to develop a very deep talent pipeline, and this is reflected in the way so many global design companies are coming to India because the talent is here,” he stated.

The minister revealed that the mission currently supports 278 universities and institutions across India, providing students access to cutting-edge Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools for chip design. He noted that students have already designed 28 chips under this initiative, demonstrating the growing global confidence in India’s semiconductor ecosystem.

Vaishnaw announced that ARM will design next-generation advanced chips, including 2-nanometer (2nm) chips, from its new Bengaluru facility, marking a significant step for India’s position in the global semiconductor value chain.

He also pointed out that ecosystem players, including suppliers of chemicals, gases, substrates, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, are establishing facilities in India, strengthening the local supply chain.

In addition, the government has rolled out the India Deep Tech Fund, with an initial corpus of $1 billion, to boost innovation in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and other emerging sectors.

Vaishnaw added that the upcoming Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will focus not only on chip design and fabrication but also on developing indigenous equipment and materials for manufacturing.

“We are working on the complete semiconductor stack — designing chips, manufacturing them, building the equipment and materials that go into making them, and developing the talent pipeline. The progress is very good, and this is just the beginning,” he said, emphasizing that India is poised to become a global semiconductor hub.