India’s Semiconductor Roadmap to 2035: “Future of India’s Semiconductor Industry”

The NITI Aayog has released India’s first comprehensive 10-year roadmap titled “Future of India’s Semiconductor Industry”, aimed at positioning India as a critical global semiconductor ecosystem player by 2035.

Key Highlights of the Roadmap

Why India Must Act Now

¨     Nearly 90–95% of India’s semiconductor demand is met through imports.

¨     Dependence on imported chips poses strategic risks to defence, aerospace and critical infrastructure systems.

¨     India spent nearly USD 150 billion on semiconductor imports during FY17–FY25, resulting in significant foreign exchange outflows.

¨     Domestic semiconductor production is essential for making future technologies such as 5G/6G devices more affordable and accessible.

¨     Global supply-chain diversification and the China-plus-One strategy have created a narrow but critical window of opportunity for India to enter the semiconductor value chain.

India’s Semiconductor Opportunity

¨     The global semiconductor market is expected to exceed USD 1.5 trillion by 2035.

¨     India’s semiconductor demand is projected to reach around USD 200 billion by 2035.

¨     At present, nearly 90–95% of India’s semiconductor demand is met through imports.

¨     Global supply-chain realignments and the search for trusted manufacturing destinations provide India with a historic opportunity to strengthen its position in the value chain.

Vision 2035: Becoming Indispensable, Not Imitative

¨     India aims to capture 10–13% of the global semiconductor market by 2035.

¨     The roadmap seeks to retain 55–70% of semiconductor value capture within India through local design, packaging, materials and manufacturing ecosystems.

¨     The roadmap targets the creation of a USD 120–150 billion semiconductor value chain by 2035.

The strategy is based on three pillars:

¨     Strategic self-sufficiency.

¨     Ecosystem strength.

¨     Global indispensability.

The emphasis is on building leadership in areas where India possesses structural advantages rather than competing directly in every segment of the semiconductor industry. India aims to achieve 15–25% chip self-sufficiency by 2030. Self-sufficiency is expected to increase to 35–50% by 2035.

Leadership in Advanced Packaging and OSAT:

¨     India aims to emerge as one of the top three global destinations for advanced packaging and OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Testing).

¨     Focus areas include Chiplets, 2.5D and 3D integration, Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging (FOWLP), Panel-Level Packaging (PLP) and System-in-Package (SiP) technologies.

¨     Advanced packaging is identified as a major opportunity in the emerging “More-than-Moore” era.

Focus on Compound and Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors

¨     The roadmap prioritises leadership in Silicon Carbide (SiC) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) technologies.

¨     India aims to become a major supplier of wide-bandgap semiconductor materials.

¨     These technologies are critical for electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, power electronics, telecom infrastructure and defence applications.

Strengthening Semiconductor Design Capabilities

¨     Tiered subsidies for Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools are proposed to reduce design costs and improve access for startups and researchers.

¨     An AI-enabled Semiconductor Engineering Mission is proposed to shorten chip-design cycles through agentic AI tools and automation.

¨     The roadmap targets the creation of more than 100 advanced semiconductor design IPs by 2035.

¨     Priority areas include AI-native chip design, high-performance computing, quantum computing, system architecture and chiplet-based design.

¨     The objective is to move from a design-services hub to a creator of globally competitive semiconductor IP.

Building Domestic Manufacturing Capacity

¨     Wafer fabrication efforts will primarily focus on mature logic nodes between 28 nm and 65 nm.

¨     Special emphasis is placed on analog, mixed-signal and power-management chips used in automotive, IoT and industrial applications.

¨     The roadmap recommends exploring Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) to provide reliable dedicated power for semiconductor fabrication clusters.