SEMICON India 2026: Chipmakers gung-ho about India’s prospects; detail expansion plans

India’s semiconductor policy push has given the industry a strong foundation, and the nation has moved from vision to execution, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said at the inaugural session of SEMICON India 2026 on Thursday.

The fifth edition of SEMICON India 2026, the country’s flagship semiconductor and electronics exhibition and conference, began at New Delhi’s Yashobhoomi on Thursday.

“For decades, people have talked about India’s semiconductor potential. I have been in many of those conversations. Potential does not ship products. What I see in India today is execution,” Mehrotra said.

Earlier this year, Micron began commercial production at Sanand, Gujarat, Malhotra said. “It is the first semiconductor assembly and test facility here in India and the first project under the India Semiconductor Mission... finished DRAM and NAND products are now leaving Gujarat for customers around the world carrying a label this country has waited a long time to put on a memory chip—the Made in India,” he said.

The current production capacity already exceeds the memory required for India’s entire laptop market, the Micron CEO said. “The India Semiconductor Mission and now ISM 2.0 gave this industry a foundation it did not have before,” he added.

Market of ‘tremendous importance’

Speaking at the inaugural session, German semiconductor major Infineon Technologies’ CEO Jochen Hanebeck said the country’s chip ecosystem is entering an exciting new chapter, underpinned by economic growth, deep industrial ambitions, and expanding technological capabilities. Calling India a market of “tremendous importance”, Hanebeck said the company’s confidence in country has “never been stronger” as the nation cements its role in the global semiconductor value chain.

“Today, we work with more than 1,200 customers across the country, ranging from startups to some of India’s largest and most successful companies,” Hanebeck said.

He noted that what impresses him most is the rapid pace of progress across the domestic landscape, with India developing technological solutions for its own market while increasingly contributing to innovation on a global scale.

The Munich-headquartered company, which has operated in India for more than 25 years, expanded its domestic workforce by 28% over the past year, bringing its headcount to over 2,800 employees across Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

Hanebeck detailed the firm’s expanding footprint, noting that Infineon has expanded its Global Capability Centre in Ahmedabad, strengthened its research and development presence in Hyderabad, and is setting up a new state-of-the-art campus in Bengaluru.

Emphasising that success in the sector cannot be achieved in isolation, Hanebeck said sustainable chip ecosystems rely on strong partnerships between industry, government, and academia.

To support talent development, he announced that Infineon has partnered with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) to establish a Centre of Excellence designed to equip the next generation of engineers with industry-ready skills.

Scaling up

Meanwhile, Micron’s Malhotra said that the company plans to scale up its chip assembly and testing facility in India by next year. “This year, we will assemble and test tens of millions of chips at Sanand. Next year, hundreds of billions of chips,” he said.

Mehrotra said that Micron designs memory chips in Bangaluru and Hyderabad, assembles in Gujarat, and ships them to customers in every continent. “Our engineering in India began long before the factory did. Our centres in Hyderabad and Bangalore are now a core part of Micron’s global technology network. Our India teams have contributed to more than 3,700 patents, inventions, and disclosures,” the Micron CEO said.

Micron has recorded around 1,400% growth in business due to rising demand for memory chips driven by artificial intelligence. “Let me tell you why this matters far beyond our company. AI is the defining technology of our time. AI begins with data. There is no model without data. And data cannot move, scale, or turn into an answer without memory and storage,” Mehrotra said.

He said every time a model gets bigger, the demand for memory gets even bigger. “The world is going to need memory that is faster, denser, and far more efficient at power. And Micron builds that memory.”

The three-day event, organised jointly by the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and SEMI, is expected to bring together global semiconductor companies, policymakers, investors, researchers, startups, and students.