Union Information and Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday announced that India will soon see the rollout of its first made-in-India semiconductor chip, as six plants are currently under construction in Gujarat, Assam and Uttar Pradesh. Speaking at the ‘Next-Gen Mobility for a Next-Gen City’ programme, he said, “Today there are six semiconductor plants under construction in our country and very soon we will see the first made in India chip roll out of these factories.”
Highlighting the government’s push for accessible Artificial Intelligence technology, Vaishnaw said, “AI is shaping our world today. Our Prime Minister’s vision is of democratising technology. It should be accessible to all. That is why we have done the India AI mission in which 34,000 GPUs are available today as a common compute facility for all our innovators.” He added that the cost of using these GPUs is less than one US dollar per hour, making it the most affordable facility in the world.
At the same event, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the need for self-reliance in technology. “Our next big priority should be becoming self-reliant in technology. The journey to a Viksit Bharat will move forward hand in hand with Digital India. Through initiatives like the India AI Mission, India is advancing toward global AI leadership. The Semiconductor Mission is also gaining momentum, and India will soon have its own Made-in-India chip,” he said.
In May, the government approved the sixth semiconductor manufacturing unit in Jewar, Uttar Pradesh, through a joint venture between HCL Group and Taiwanese company Foxconn. The plant will have the capacity to produce 20,000 wafers per month and generate 36 million chips monthly, creating around 2,000 jobs. Other plants include four in Gujarat and one in Assam.
The India AI Mission, launched in 2024, aims to make India a global hub for AI research and adoption across sectors like healthcare, agriculture, education, smart cities and infrastructure. The government has also approved the Rs 76,000 crore Semicon India programme to boost semiconductor and display manufacturing.
Vaishnaw also noted that India has become the top supplier of smartphones to the US and is now the world’s second-largest mobile phone manufacturer. Electronics manufacturing has grown sixfold in 11 years, reaching Rs 12 lakh crore, while electronic exports have risen eightfold to Rs 3 lakh crore. In 2014, only 26 per cent of mobile phones sold in India were locally made; today, that figure stands at 99.2 per cent, with production value jumping from Rs 18,900 crore in FY14 to Rs 4,22,000 crore in FY24.
Also read: Viksit Workforce for a Viksit Bharat
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