SEMICON India 2026 Opens With $5 Billion Applied Materials Plan and Major Chip Investments

Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened SEMICON India 2026 in New Delhi on September 16. Organisers say the three-day event drew more than 600 companies from 52 countries, along with commitments worth billions of dollars for India's young semiconductor industry (Open, Swarajya).

The commitments

Applied Materials, one of the world's largest chip equipment makers, announced India Vision 2035, a $5 billion ten-year plan covering research, equipment components and materials manufacturing. It was the largest pledge at the event. Prabhu Raja, president of Applied's Semiconductor Products Group, said the plan includes a 140-acre advanced research park in Bengaluru, a tenfold increase in India-based supply-chain capacity and a doubled R&D workforce by 2035. Applied already employs more than 7,000 people in India (Evertiq).

Lam Research proposed an investment of about ₹10,000 crore, including its first silicon-component manufacturing plant in India and expanded R&D. The plant would cover silicon ingot production and processing, and would also serve as a manufacturing and export base for Lam's global operations. Fujifilm announced an ₹800 crore (about $83 million) greenfield materials plant, starting with front-end semiconductor materials and later adding surface conditioning materials and high-purity chemicals (Upstox). Tata Electronics signed 16 supplier memoranda of understanding and confirmed new production at its Mohali and Surat sites.

Company	Commitment	What it covers
Applied Materials	$5 billion to 2035	R&D, 140-acre Bengaluru research park, tenfold supply-chain capacity
Lam Research	About ₹10,000 crore	First Indian silicon-component plant (ingot production and processing), R&D
Fujifilm	About ₹800 crore	Greenfield semiconductor materials plant, two phases
Tata Electronics	16 supplier MoUs	New production at Mohali and Surat

The fifth edition is organised by the India Semiconductor Mission and industry body SEMI under the theme "Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem". Earlier editions focused on attracting individual chip projects. This one covers the full chain, from materials and equipment to design, fabrication, advanced packaging and finished electronics, with about 50,000 visitors and more than 400 executives expected.

From approvals to production

India has cleared 12 semiconductor projects under its incentive schemes, covering fabrication, assembly and testing, from companies including Tata, Micron and CG Semi. This year's emphasis was on execution. Modi presented India as a "trusted" manufacturing destination as supply chains look to diversify. Speakers pointed to milestones such as chips designed by Indian students being made at the Semiconductor Complex Limited facility in Mohali. One report, citing Bloomberg, says Modi also unveiled a second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission with a $13.5 billion outlay over 12 years (AI Weekly).

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who runs the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, describes the next stage as "Semicon 2.0", a move from packaging and testing toward more advanced fabrication and design. Government estimates put India's semiconductor consumption at up to $110 billion by 2030, up from $45 billion to $50 billion in 2025.

Why it matters for gadget buyers

Memory, sensors, power management chips and display drivers for phones, laptops and smart home devices still reach India through import-dependent supply chains, even when final assembly happens locally under production-linked incentives. A domestic materials, equipment and component base of the kind these investments target would reduce that dependence over time and give device makers more protection from global memory and chip shortages, which have already pushed up phone prices this year.

The gap between pledges and delivery

Past SEMICON India pledges have had a mixed record of becoming working facilities on schedule. Money alone does not solve the structural challenges: a small pool of specialised fab engineers, the water and power that advanced manufacturing needs, and competition from Taiwan, South Korea, the US and Europe, all of which offer incentives to the same equipment and materials suppliers.

What to watch next

Watch whether Applied's plan and Lam's commitment turn into groundbreakings and hiring within 12 to 18 months, the real test of whether this year marks a turning point.

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