India’s semiconductor sector attracts strong global investment interest: IT Secretary

India accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the global semiconductor design workforce, IT Secretary S Krishnan said, adding that the government is training about 85,000 design engineers and will encourage domestic and multinational companies to invest in the sector

New Delhi: India currently accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the world’s semiconductor design workforce, and the government has placed substantial emphasis on developing design talent, with an ongoing programme to train approximately 85,000 design engineers, IT Secretary S Krishnan said on Saturday.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of ‘SEMICON India 2026’ here, he said the government would prioritise all dimensions of skill development, with a strong focus on semiconductor manufacturing.

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“In the chip design domain, a massive talent pool is already skilled,” Krishnan said.

He further stated that investments and proposals received at ‘SEMICON India’ would be analysed thoroughly and carefully because a significant amount of government incentives was involved.

“Since public money is involved, we can commit incentives only after properly evaluating every proposal. Numerous large domestic and multinational companies are very keen to invest in this sector. This interest is driven by two key factors: their confidence in India’s talent pool and the stability and strong support provided by policy,” said Krishnan.

“Because of these reasons, a large number of companies and investors want to enter India and invest here. We will actively encourage them and work closely alongside them,” the IT Secretary said.

Ashok Chandak, president of SEMI India-IESA, said the event saw 12,000 visitors on day one and 16,000 on day two, with the momentum continuing.

“This includes the early-career engineering pool as well as the student community. On day one, we had a large number of students. This clearly indicates a strong desire to gain knowledge and understanding about the semiconductor sector among the student community,” Chandak told IANS.

He further stated that there had been strong participation from Asian countries.

“We have participation from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. There are a few visitors from the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand as well. This shows a strong interest among these countries and companies in working together with their Indian counterparts,” Chandak said.