Semiconductor leadership forum launched to drive $50 bn product value, create million high-paying jobs in India

NEW DELHI: The newly-formed ICEA Semiconductor Product Design Leadership Forum aims to create at least $50 billion worth of indigenously designed semiconductor products and create around a million highly paid jobs, said Pankaj Mohindroo, chairman of ICEA.

India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA), the apex industry body representing the electronics and semiconductor sector, on Tuesday announced the launch of the ICEA Semiconductor Product Design Leadership Forum. This strategic platform is designed to position India as a global leader in semiconductor product design, IP creation and high-value innovation.

Projections presented at the launch of the Forum highlighted a $120 billion domestic semiconductor market by 2030, with the sector poised to generate over one million jobs, contribute 3-5 per cent to the country’s GDP, and deliver $30 billion in annual exports.

The forum believes India has exceptional semiconductor research and design talent, but lacks commercialisation infrastructure. It has also set out a roadmap to 2035. The phased strategy envisions foundation building — policy frameworks and infrastructure in 2025-26. 2027-28: Innovation drive — cutting-edge R&D and niche technologies; 2029-30: Scaling up — 100 successful fabless product enterprises; and 2031-35: Global leadership — India as a key player in semiconductor innovation.

The forum is chaired by Sandeep Kumar, Chief Executive, L&T Semiconductor Technologies. It will bring together leaders from across the design ecosystem, including fabless firms, IP providers, tool vendors, and system integrators, to address structural challenges and shape a forward-looking roadmap for design-led semiconductor growth.

“We design for the whole world, but we don’t design our own product. And that is something which we want to do…This will be a very major revolution in services after IT outsourcing and software services”, Mohindroo said.

“I think from the design perspective, we are aiming that about $50 billion worth of value should get accredited to India with value creation through our own product design. This is a base target. I think we can do much more than that. But this is a target which is definitely achievable. And around a million high-quality, high-paying jobs will also be created in the process”, he said.

He added that the forum will be a platform that catapults India into a global leader in semiconductor design. “We estimate that about a million jobs in the next decade will get created. Very high-quality jobs and a lot of tremendous value will get accredited to the nation”, he said.

Union Minister for Information and Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated the advanced Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facility of CG Semi Private Limited in Sanand, Gujarat, last week. The Minister also announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will “soon” dedicate the country’s first chip produced from this facility.

In June 2023, the government approved the first proposal for establishing a semiconductor unit in Sanand. As of the date, the government has approved 10 semiconductor manufacturing projects with a cumulative investment of more than Rs 1.60 lakh crore in six states: Gujarat, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.

India’s semiconductor consumption is expected to scale to upwards of $120 billion by 2030, a sizable increase from the current $24 billion offtake, Sandeep Kumar, CEO, L&T Semiconductor Technologies Ltd, and chairman of the newly-formed Semiconductor Product Leadership Forum, said.

“India doesn’t manufacture semiconductors as of now. We definitely use it. We consume about $24 billion worth of semiconductors, and it is expected to rise to upwards of $100-120 billion by 2030. When India starts to produce those chips, our share will definitely rise”, Sandeep Kumar said.

He suggested that India has to chart its own path and strategy in the semiconductor ecosystem and not copy the tried-and-tested methods used by other major semiconductor majors.By 2035, India’s semiconductor industry is poised to contribute to the country’s GDP, the L&T official said. (ANI)