Science & TechnologyPriority2025-09-02

SEMICON India 2025 Inaugurated in New Delhi

Why focus: GS3 Economy/Tech: Core Atmanirbhar Bharat vision. Tests India Semiconductor Mission nodal agency and 'How-Many-Correct' on fab materials.

In News

What Happened

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 4th edition of SEMICON India at Yashobhoomi, New Delhi, held from September 2-4, 2025. The event celebrated a major milestone: the launch of India's first end-to-end Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) Pilot Line in Sanand, Gujarat, by CG Semi. The conference was jointly organized by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and SEMI with the theme 'Building the Next Semiconductor Powerhouse'.

Why It Matters

This marks a critical shift for India from being completely dependent on imported chips to developing domestic manufacturing, packaging, and testing capabilities. By establishing domestic OSAT facilities, India is securing its supply chains for critical sectors like automotive, defense, and telecom, while positioning itself as a trusted node in the global semiconductor ecosystem.

Background

History & Context

India's ambitions for semiconductor manufacturing have seen several false starts over the decades, primarily due to the massive capital requirements and lack of a surrounding ecosystem. The turning point came in December 2021 with the launch of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and a comprehensive INR 76,000 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The global chip shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the strategic risk of relying heavily on countries like Taiwan and China. Previous editions of SEMICON India (Bengaluru 2022, Gandhinagar 2023, Greater Noida 2024) focused on attracting investments and shaping policy. The 2025 edition marked the transition to operational reality, highlighted by the operationalization of the CG Semi OSAT pilot line in Sanand, a joint venture between CG Power, Renesas Electronics (Japan), and Stars Microelectronics (Thailand).

What Changed

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FROM conceptual policy TO operational reality: The inauguration of the CG Semi G1 pilot line in Sanand marks the first time India has end-to-end commercial-scale chip assembly, packaging, and testing capabilities on its soil.
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FROM pure design focus TO manufacturing integration: While India has historically been strong in chip design, the ISM successfully shifted focus to the physical hardware value chain (OSAT/ATMP).
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FROM talent scarcity TO structured capacity building: The government partnered with 270 universities, providing advanced EDA tools (Siemens, Cadence, Synopsys), resulting in over 1.2 crore usage hours and the fabrication of 20 academic chips at SCL Mohali.
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FROM isolated domestic efforts TO strategic global joint ventures: Local companies formed crucial international alliances, such as CG Power acquiring technological know-how from Japan's Renesas and Thailand's Stars Microelectronics.
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FROM 'Shaping the Future' TO 'Building the Powerhouse': The shifting themes of SEMICON India (2024 vs 2025) reflect India's move from laying groundwork to executing at scale.

What Did NOT Change

Despite the successful launch of OSAT facilities, India still lacks a commercial-scale, cutting-edge semiconductor fabrication plant (Fab) for sub-10nm nodes. The core silicon wafers still need to be imported from global foundries before they can be packaged and tested in the newly built domestic OSAT facilities.

Prelims Angle

NCERT Connection

Class 12 Physics, Chapter 14: 'Semiconductor Electronics: Materials, Devices and Simple Circuits'. The chapter covers the fundamental physics of p-n junctions, intrinsic/extrinsic semiconductors, and basic integrated circuits. The OSAT facility in Sanand is the industrial scale-up of these concepts. While the NCERT explains the physics of a single diode or transistor, OSAT facilities take silicon wafers containing billions of these microscopic p-n junctions, slice them into individual functional dies, wire them, and encase them in protective packaging so they can interact with macroscopic devices.

Common Misconceptions

✗ India is currently manufacturing highly advanced 3nm semiconductor wafers domestically.

✓ India's current operational facilities are OSATs (which package pre-fabricated wafers) and upcoming Fabs are targeting mature nodes (28nm and above), not cutting-edge sub-10nm nodes.

Frequent news about AI and advanced 3nm chips globally creates the assumption that any 'semiconductor manufacturing' announcement automatically involves the most advanced fabrication.

✗ OSAT facilities manufacture silicon wafers from scratch using raw sand/silica.

✓ OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facilities receive fully processed silicon wafers from foundries. They slice, assemble, wire, package, and test these chips.

The general term 'chip manufacturing' is used loosely in media for both front-end fabrication (Foundry/Fab) and back-end packaging (OSAT/ATMP).

Practice Questions

Q1

How Many Correct

Consider the following statements regarding the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and domestic manufacturing: 1. The CG Semi facility at Sanand is India's first end-to-end OSAT pilot line, established as a joint venture involving Japanese and Thai technological partners. 2. The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) is the nodal agency operating under the Ministry of Science and Technology. 3. Custom chips designed by academic institutions under the ISM talent pipeline have been successfully fabricated at the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali. How many of the above statements are correct?

Q2

Match the Following

Match List I (Entity/Initiative) with List II (Description/Location) regarding India's semiconductor ecosystem: List I A. India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) B. First OSAT Pilot Line C. Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) D. SEMICON India 2025 Theme List II 1. Sanand, Gujarat 2. 'Building the Next Semiconductor Powerhouse' 3. Operates under MeitY 4. Mohali, Punjab

Q3

Assertion & Reason

Assertion (A): The initial phase of India's semiconductor manufacturing thrust prioritizes OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facilities and mature node fabs over sub-10nm cutting-edge fabrication plants. Reason (R): Setting up OSAT facilities requires relatively lower capital investment, provides quicker entry into the global supply chain, and helps build foundational workforce skills before moving to complex front-end wafer fabrication. Select the correct answer from the codes given below:

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