Vaishnaw Flags Cyber Threats to India's Expanding Chip Ambitions

India's semiconductor ambitions have drawn a caution from Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who has asked the industry to prepare for cyberattacks and disruption that could target the country's fast-growing chip capabilities.

The warning comes as India's chip programme seeks to move past assembly and packaging into a wider domestic supply chain, while drawing global companies to manufacture and develop semiconductor technologies on Indian soil.

That shift would deepen the country's role in a sector where supply chains are concentrated in a handful of economies and where geopolitical tensions have repeatedly exposed the risks of dependence on a few production hubs.

Vaishnaw's caution points to a parallel concern: as India's semiconductor footprint expands, it becomes a more attractive target for malicious actors. Building a resilient ecosystem therefore involves not only fabs, design talent and materials, but also robust cybersecurity and the ability to absorb shocks.

The minister's message places security and continuity alongside capacity creation as priorities for the industry as it scales up.