Can India rival Taiwan in semiconductors? A few years ago, the question would have sounded more like ambition than analysis. Taiwan, through TSMC and its dense chip ecosystem, still sits at the heart of the world’s most advanced semiconductor production, accounting for more than 90 percent of leading-edge chip manufacturing. India, by contrast, is only beginning its journey from chip design talent to chip manufacturing capability.
But the gap no longer tells the full story. India’s semiconductor push has moved from policy speeches to sanctioned projects, from incentives to construction sites, and from import dependence to a planned ecosystem spanning fabs, OSAT, compound semiconductors, design IP, materials and advanced packaging.
The real question, therefore, is not whether India can become the next Taiwan. It is whether India can build a semiconductor role that the world cannot afford to ignore.
India's ₹76,000 Crore Bet
The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), launched under the $10 billion (roughly ₹76,000 crore) Production Linked Incentive scheme for semiconductors, is the centrepiece of the country's chip ambitions.
The India Semiconductor Mission was launched in January 2022 under the Semicon India Programme to develop a complete semiconductor ecosystem covering chip design, fabrication, assembly, testing, packaging and module manufacturing. As per the latest official data, India has approved 10 semiconductor projects with investment commitments of around ₹1.6 lakh crore, while commercial production from Micron and Kaynes has already started and two more plants are expected to begin commercial production soon
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The momentum accelerated further in May 2026 when the Union Cabinet approved two more semiconductor projects in Gujarat with cumulative investment of around ₹3,936 crore. With these approvals, the total number of projects under the India Semiconductor Mission reached 12, with cumulative investments of around ₹1.64 lakh crore.
This is a major shift. India is no longer merely talking about entering the semiconductor race. It now has projects under construction, commercial shipments underway, foreign partnerships in place and a roadmap that stretches to 2035.
Why Taiwan Cannot Be Recreated Overnight
Taiwan’s semiconductor dominance was not built in five years. It was built over decades through government planning, industrial clustering, deep process engineering, global customer trust, disciplined manufacturing culture and an ecosystem of suppliers, equipment makers, chemicals, gases, wafers and talent.
India cannot simply write a cheque and recreate that ecosystem.
The most difficult part of semiconductor manufacturing is not announcing a fab. It is running it profitably, improving yield, maintaining quality, retaining engineers, managing chemical and gas supply chains, and winning customer confidence. A fab becomes globally relevant only when customers trust that it can deliver chips consistently, at scale, with predictable quality and timelines.
That is why India’s comparison with Taiwan needs honesty. India is not likely to challenge TSMC at the most advanced nodes in this decade. But it does not have to.
The real opportunity is to build a complementary role in the semiconductor world: trusted mature-node manufacturing, advanced packaging, compound semiconductors, design-led innovation and supply-chain resilience.
India’s Biggest Strength Is Still Chip Design
One of India’s strongest semiconductor advantages already exists: design talent.
India is home to large R&D and design centres of global semiconductor majors. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Noida have become important centres for chip design, embedded systems, verification, software, firmware and product engineering.
NITI Aayog’s 2026 semiconductor roadmap notes that India’s design talent already accounts for nearly one-fifth of the global semiconductor design workforce. This is a rare advantage. Very few countries trying to enter semiconductor manufacturing already have such a deep base of engineers working across the global chip design chain.
The government is also trying to convert this talent into domestic intellectual property. According to official data, chip design tools from eight companies have been provided to 315 universities, with usage exceeding 200 lakh hours. India has also supported 24 semiconductor chip and SoC design projects, while seven chips have already been fabricated at various nodes, including advanced nodes such as 12nm.
This matters because India’s semiconductor future cannot be limited to being a low-cost manufacturing destination. The real value lies in owning design IP, building fabless startups, creating application-specific chips and linking Indian design capability with Indian packaging and manufacturing capacity.
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Packaging and Testing: The Overlooked Opportunity
Advanced packaging — the process of assembling multiple chips into a single module — is one of the hottest areas in the global semiconductor industry right now. Companies like Apple, AMD, and NVIDIA are increasingly relying on chiplet architectures that require sophisticated packaging solutions. This is a segment where India can realistically compete within five years.
The CG Power-Renesas facility in Gujarat is an early indicator of this direction. Assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) facilities are less capital-intensive than fabs, can be built faster, and still represent significant value in the chain. India's manufacturing discipline, improving infrastructure, and lower labour costs relative to established ATMP hubs like Malaysia and the Philippines make this a credible path.
Compound Semiconductors: The Opportunity Beyond Silicon
Another important area missing from many semiconductor discussions is compound semiconductors, especially silicon carbide and gallium nitride.
These materials are critical for electric vehicles, renewable energy, power electronics, telecom, defence, industrial systems and high-efficiency devices. Unlike leading-edge silicon logic chips, this is an area where the global race is still evolving, and India has a chance to build capability before the market fully consolidates.
NITI Aayog’s roadmap specifically identifies SiC and GaN as strategic areas for India, linking them to automotive, energy, industrial, telecom and strategic sectors.
The Cabinet’s May 2026 approval of Crystal Matrix Limited’s integrated compound semiconductor fabrication and ATMP facility in Dholera shows this direction clearly. The facility will manufacture mini/micro-LED display modules and provide GaN foundry services, including epitaxy on six-inch wafers. Its proposed annual capacity includes 72,000 square metres of mini/micro-LED display panels and 24,000 sets of RGB wafers.
This is a significant development because it moves India’s semiconductor story beyond conventional silicon. It also connects semiconductors with future-facing sectors such as XR devices, smartwatches, automotive displays, commercial displays and advanced electronics.
The 2035 Roadmap: Becoming Indispensable, Not Imitative
The most important shift in India’s semiconductor thinking is this: India is no longer framing success only as catching up with the most advanced foundries.
NITI Aayog’s 2026 roadmap sets a target of building a $120–150 billion semiconductor value chain by 2035. But its strategic language is more interesting than the number. The roadmap says India should aim to become “indispensable, not imitative” — meaning the country should not merely copy what Taiwan, South Korea or the US have already built.
The roadmap identifies areas where India can build a differentiated role: mature-node logic, specialty analog and mixed-signal chips, compound semiconductors, advanced packaging, OSAT, design and system architecture. It also states that India should aim for a top-three global position in OSAT and advanced packaging.
This is the most realistic framing of India’s semiconductor future. India does not need to win every part of the chip race. It needs to win the segments that matter for its economy, its security and its global positioning.
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So, Can India Rival Taiwan?
The honest answer is: not in the way the question is usually asked.
India is unlikely to rival Taiwan in leading-edge chip fabrication in the near future. Taiwan’s lead in advanced nodes, customer relationships, process engineering and ecosystem depth is too large to be erased quickly.
But that does not mean India cannot become a serious semiconductor power.
India’s path will be different. It will be built around design strength, mature-node manufacturing, advanced packaging, compound semiconductors, domestic demand and trusted global partnerships. It will be less about replacing Taiwan and more about reducing the world’s overdependence on a few semiconductor geographies.
The global chip industry is entering an era where resilience matters as much as efficiency. Countries and companies want alternatives. They want trusted partners. They want supply chains that are not fragile, concentrated or politically vulnerable.
India’s semiconductor moment lies in that opening.
The foundations are being laid in Dholera, Sanand, Assam, Surat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and other emerging clusters. The numbers are now serious. The policy intent is visible. The projects are moving. The design talent already exists.
The cement is still wet, but for the first time, India’s semiconductor ambition looks less like a dream and more like a difficult, expensive, high-stakes national project that has actually begun.
