Industry Leaders See Exponential Growth Ahead for India's Chip Sector
At SEMICON India 2026, industry leaders said the country's semiconductor ecosystem is poised for rapid growth, citing Micron's Sanand output and Infineon's expanding workforce.
India's semiconductor ecosystem is positioned for what industry leaders describe as unprecedented exponential growth, with companies looking to expand manufacturing, deepen research and build a skilled workforce. The assessments came at SEMICON India 2026 in New Delhi, where executives from across the chip supply chain outlined their plans for the country.
Ajit Manocha, President and CEO of SEMI, said the sector had completed a remarkable year and was moving in the right direction. He described India as indispensable to the global semiconductor ecosystem and urged the country to identify specific parts of the value chain where it can build a strong position and become essential worldwide.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra detailed the company's deepening footprint. Micron has operated in India for seven years and directly employs more than 7,000 people, while supporting tens of thousands of additional jobs across the semiconductor value chain. He said the company's current production capacity already exceeds the memory needed for India's entire laptop market. Micron will assemble and test tens of millions of chips at its Sanand facility this year, scaling to hundreds of millions next year, he added.
The Sanand plant, which began commercial production earlier this year, is India's first semiconductor assembly and test facility and the first project under the India Semiconductor Mission. Mehrotra noted that Micron's engineering presence in the country predates the factory, with centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore now forming a core part of its global technology network. Teams in India have contributed to more than 3,700 patents, inventions and disclosures, he said.
Infineon Technologies CEO Jochen Hanebeck said the company now employs around 2,800 people in India, an increase of more than 28 per cent over the past year. He also pointed to semiconductor skilling efforts, saying Infineon has partnered with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology to launch a new Centre of Excellence aimed at equipping future engineers with industry-relevant skills.