The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology showcased India’s semiconductor capabilities at SEMICON India 2026, held in New Delhi from 17 to 19 September. The event brought together more than 600 companies, start-ups, academic institutions and policymakers to display India’s growing strengths in chip design, manufacturing, packaging and related technologies. The fifth edition of this biennial exhibition highlighted how India’s semiconductor sector is expanding beyond individual chip design into a complete ecosystem.
What was on display
The exhibition featured indigenous processor technologies, including C-DAC’s 64-bit RISC-V processor for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. Indian semiconductor companies demonstrated practical chips for everyday use, from motor control and energy meters to smart appliances, surveillance systems and automotive technologies. Companies like InCore Semiconductors showcased processor designs proven in silicon across technology nodes from 180 nanometres to 16 nanometres. Netrasemi displayed an AI-capable chip designed for CCTV surveillance and smart sensors in the 12 nanometre process node.
The Start-up Pavilion highlighted the Government’s Design Linked Incentive Scheme, which has supported chip-design projects in video surveillance, drone detection, broadband and satellite communications. The Chips to Startup Programme has trained more than one lakh engineers from over 500 organisations, including 400 academic institutions and 100 start-ups. These participants have developed more than 300 chip designs and logged over four crore hours using advanced design tools.
The broader semiconductor manufacturing sector was also represented. Under the Semicon India Programme, 12 semiconductor projects have been approved across six states with investment commitments exceeding 1.64 lakh crore rupees. Three manufacturing facilities have already begun commercial production. The Government approved Semicon 2.0 in July 2026 with an outlay of 1,27,500 crore rupees, focusing on design, equipment and materials, additional fabrication plants, advanced packaging, research and development, and workforce development.
What this means for you
India’s semiconductor sector is moving from policy planning towards actual manufacturing and product development. If you work in electronics, technology or manufacturing, opportunities are expanding across chip design, testing, packaging and related fields. Students and professionals interested in semiconductor engineering will find growing support through government schemes and academic partnerships. As India develops indigenous processor technologies and manufacturing capacity, costs for electronics and computing services may eventually decline, benefiting consumers.