Four Chip Plants to Start Full-Scale Production from 2026, Says Vaishnaw

On the occasion of the approval of the third tranche of the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Friday that four semiconductor units in the country, including those by the Tata Group, Micron and CG Semi, will move beyond pilot runs and trial production to begin regular, large-scale manufacturing from 2026.

“In several segments, India will meet a significant share of domestic demand and even emerge as an exporter of products such as PCBs, laminates, lithium-ion cells, enclosures and optical transceivers. The value chain is clearly taking root. By 2026, four semiconductor units—Micron, Tata, CG Semi and another facility—will begin commercial production, marking a historic milestone,” he said.

In continuation of the approvals of 24 applications for an investment of ₹12,704 crore announced earlier, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has further approved 22 proposals under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), with projected investment of ₹41,863 crore and projected production of ₹2,58,152 crore. These approvals are expected to generate 33,791 direct employment opportunities.

The approvals cover manufacturing across 11 target segment products with cross-sectoral applications spanning mobile manufacturing, telecom, consumer electronics, strategic electronics, automotive and IT hardware.

These include five bare components—PCBs, capacitors, connectors, enclosures and lithium-ion cells; three sub-assemblies—camera modules, display modules and optical transceivers; and three supply-chain items—aluminium extrusion, anode material and laminates.

A total of 46 applications have been approved under the scheme, with cumulative investments amounting to ₹54,567 crore. These projects are expected to generate employment for 50,794 people and drive cumulative production worth ₹3.67 lakh crore.

Vaishnaw noted that as India moves towards building a robust AI stack, the focus is on strengthening all layers of the ecosystem.

“We are developing AI-based applications at the top layer, building large and small language models at the middle layer, and placing strong emphasis on the bottom infrastructure layer through initiatives such as the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) and the Semiconductor Mission,” he said.

He also put forward a challenge to industry, stating that future approvals and disbursements will be linked to structured plans for local sourcing, design excellence and Six Sigma implementation. Highlighting skilling as the fourth major pillar, he said that while multiple skilling initiatives are already in place, there is a need for a far more coordinated and outcome-driven approach.