Semicon 2.0 to focus on chip design, manufacturing equipment and materials ecosystem: Ashwini Vaishnaw - ANI News

India is advancing its semiconductor strategy with the launch of Semicon 2.0, focusing on building a comprehensive ecosystem encompassing chip design, manufacturing equipment, and materials. The first... Read original →

India’s Semicon 2.0 isn’t chasing wafer fabs—it’s targeting the semiconductor value chain’s choke points: equipment, specialty chemicals, and design IP. By prioritizing these upstream segments, New Delhi sidesteps mature-node commoditization and positions itself in high-margin, capacity-constrained niches like electronic gases and photoresists. This pressures Japanese and Korean material suppliers to recalibrate South Asia strategies, while IC design outsourcing hubs in Taiwan, China face talent and order diversion. Despite amassing 75,000 engineers, local chemical sourcing gaps will inflate compliance costs under tightening U.S.-EU export controls. Within 18 months, if 3–5 of the 40 VC-backed design startups evolve into IP-platform players, India could become the strategic beachhead for non-U.S. EDA tools—directly challenging the pricing hegemony of the Big Three.