Revealed by Minister Jitin Prasada, India’s semiconductor design leap, highlighted by a 3nm breakthrough, is backed by major talent and ecosystem investments.
India’s semiconductor ambitions are gaining pace with the unveiling of a 3nm chip designed domestically and a large-scale talent development effort across the country. The update was announced in the Lok Sabha on Friday by Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Jitin Prasada.
He mentioned, the country already accounts for nearly 20% of the global semiconductor design workforce. Major global firms have set up chip design and research and development (R&D) centres in India. The recent development of a 3nm chip marks a milestone in India’s growing role in advanced chip design.
The Minister highlighted that several government has introduced multiple initiatives to support this momentum. These include a revised curriculum by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) focused on VLSI design and integrated circuit manufacturing. Over 45,000 students from 100 institutions are currently enrolled.
Additionally, the SMART Lab at NIELIT Calicut has already trained more than 44,000 engineers under a nationwide programme aimed at training 100,000 professionals in semiconductor design.
Industry-academia collaborations with organisations such as Lam Research, IBM, and Purdue University are also contributing to skill development.
Meanwhile, the Semicon India Programme, with a total allocation of ₹760 billion, is central to India’s strategy for building a comprehensive semiconductor and display ecosystem. Under this scheme, six semiconductor manufacturing projects and 22 design-linked incentive projects have been approved.
On the other hand, 72 companies now have access to semiconductor design tools and infrastructure, including FPGA boards and EDA tools from Synopsys, Cadence, and Siemens. Facilities for post-silicon validation, testing, and packaging support are also being provided, concluded Prasada.
