Misri Tells SEMICON India 2026 That No Nation Builds a Chip Alone

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Friday told a gathering of global semiconductor stakeholders that no country, however advanced, can construct a complete chip ecosystem on its own, and urged companies to build "with India, not merely in India."

Speaking at SEMICON India 2026, Misri framed the event around a single theme — partnership — and set out why the semiconductor industry depends on coalitions rather than self-sufficient national silos.

He noted that semiconductors, once a largely invisible industrial input, have become a yardstick of economic capability, technological maturity and national standing. Even Taiwan, which produces more than 90 per cent of the world's most advanced chips, relies on design software, tools and materials developed elsewhere, he said, describing the chip as possibly the most collaborative object industry has ever produced.

Misri offered three reasons why partnership is unavoidable. First, the value chain itself disperses production: design talent, equipment, fabrication, materials and assembly are each concentrated in different countries, and supply chains have consequently organised around relationships that have proven reliable over time.

Second, he said, concentrations of production — whether in rare earth processing or advanced node manufacturing — are worth diversifying away from as sound industrial practice rather than out of suspicion. A single credible source amounts to a single point of failure, he argued, and the sensible response is to build credible alternatives rather than to confront.

Third, the push toward the technological frontier has become a shared national project. Misri pointed to the United States' commitment of more than 50 billion dollars under its Chips Act, China's sustained investment in domestic capability, and Europe's ambition to capture a fifth of global manufacturing capacity, placing India's own SEMICON India programme in the same context. For companies, he said, this amounts to a landscape rich in incentives and willing partners.

He also stressed that technical norms, certification regimes and interoperability protocols will shape the next generation of the semiconductor ecosystem, with those who help write them defining the terrain on which others build.

SEMICON India 2026 is hosting more than 500 exhibiting companies from over 20 countries, showcasing technologies and solutions across the microelectronics ecosystem, with the edition marking a significant expansion over previous years.