The Semiconductor Companies Building Chip Ecosystem in India

India’s semiconductor story did not begin with the recent rush to build fabs and chip plants.

The country’s semiconductor journey goes back decades, from Fairchild Semiconductor’s operations in India in the 1960s to the establishment of the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali in the 1980s.

What has changed is the scale and ambition.

For decades, India built capabilities in chip design, engineering and R&D, largely through global semiconductor companies and specialised institutions. But only in recent years has this foundation begun translating into a broader semiconductor ecosystem, with investments moving beyond design towards fabrication, assembly, testing and indigenous chip development.

So, what is driving India’s semiconductor surge now, and how much of it is built on capabilities that have been developing for decades?

A Semiconductor Presence Built Over Decades

From Design to Engineering

For years, design and engineering have been at the heart of India’s semiconductor capabilities.

AMD’s Bengaluru campus is its largest global design centre, while Intel describes India as its largest design and engineering centre outside the US. Qualcomm’s India operations work across wireless modem and multimedia software, DSP, embedded applications and semiconductor IP.

NXP has been building semiconductor capabilities in India for decades. Its India operation expanded into a full-fledged Centre of Excellence in 1990, focusing on IC design, IP design, software development and customer applications. Today, NXP has more than 2,500 engineers across four Indian locations, working across semiconductor design, software and engineering.

These operations have helped build expertise across VLSI, SoC design, verification, software, systems engineering and semiconductor IP.

Beyond Chip Design

India’s semiconductor capabilities are also expanding across different parts of the technology stack.

Samsung Semiconductor India Research works across System LSI, memory and semiconductor technologies, while Microchip Technology has engineering operations across Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad.

The significance goes beyond individual companies. These operations have helped create a pool of specialised talent and technical expertise that can support the broader semiconductor ecosystem taking shape in India.

A New Phase for India

The arrival of Micron’s semiconductor assembly and test facility in Sanand, Gujarat adds another important layer to India’s semiconductor ecosystem.

India has historically built stronger capabilities in semiconductor design and engineering than in manufacturing. Micron’s facility, alongside new fabs and packaging projects, is helping expand that footprint into assembly, testing and advanced packaging.

The government is also supporting this transition through the Semicon India Programme and Semicon 2.0.

Semicon 2.0, approved in July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, focuses on chip design, semiconductor equipment and materials, fabs, advanced packaging, R&D and talent development.

By July 2026, 12 semiconductor projects with investments exceeding ₹1.64 lakh crore had been approved under the broader semiconductor programme, with three projects already in commercial production.

Together, these efforts are connecting capabilities that have developed separately over the years.

Design and engineering can now sit alongside manufacturing, packaging, testing and domestic chip development, creating a more integrated semiconductor ecosystem in India.