Munish Gupta
NEW DELHI: PRIME Minister Narendra Modi has said that the day is not far when India’s smallest chip will bring the biggest change in the world.
Inaugurating ‘Semicon India 2025’ in the national Capital on September 2, PM Modi stressed that India is moving beyond just the backend of the semiconductor industry and is now building a full-stack ecosystem to become globally competitive and ‘Atmanirbhar’. Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw presented the first “Made in India” semiconductor chip Vikram to PM Modi.
Addressing the summit, PM Modi said, “The world trusts India, the world believes in India, and the world is ready to build semiconductor future in India.” He added that when other countries were facing challenges, India recorded the FY26 Q1 GDP growth of 7.8 per cent which exceeded all the expectations.
“India is assured to progress rapidly to become the world’s third largest economy,” PM Modi said, adding “oil may be black gold, but chips are digital diamonds.” He further stated that at a time when there are concerns in the economy of the world, there are challenges created by economic selfishness, adding that future lies in chips, not oil wells. “Oil shaped the last century, and the fate of the world was tied to oil wells. But in the 21st century, power is concentrated in the small chip. Though tiny, the chip has the strength to drive the world’s progress at great speed,” he said.
He outlined that the semiconductor global market is worth around $600 billon, and will cross $1 trillion in a few years, and he is confident that India will play an important role in the $1 trillion market.
He highlighted that the Semiconductor Programme which began in 2021, has attracted investments of around $18 billion across 10 projects cleared so far, with the first plant being approved in 2023. PM Modi also underlined the significance of critical minerals in manufacturing various tech products, and how the country is working to meet the demands domestically. He further stated that he wanted the semicon intellectual property (IP) to be developed in India, which would help the country to be competitive with other nations. “Critical mineral mission is key focus area. We are looking to meet rare earth demand through domestic production,” he said. “We want semiconductor IP to be developed in India,” PM Modi added.
On the second day of Semicon India 2025, PM Modi interacted with experts in the semiconductor field at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi today. He visited the exhibition and saw various products and projects related to semiconductors.
