ETCHING SEMICON DREAMS

Historically concentrated in regions like the US, East Asia, and Europe, there's a rising interest in expanding semiconductor assembly and packaging capabilities to emerging markets like India."

- PAROMITA GUPTA

MURALI KRISHNA GUNTURU

Principal, Inflexor Ventures

We maintain a positive outlook on India's semiconductor space, and are focusing in a few interesting areas such as Gallium Nitride applications and advanced SoC designs and production systems."

SAHIL KHAN

Founder, Geocon Semiconductors

The growing focus of the Indian government on the semiconductor industry has led to a burgeoning number of semiconductor startups in the country, who are helping India realise its ambition of becoming a Semiconductor superpower.

In 2021, like millions of gamers worldwide, media student Abhinav Tyagi couldn't wait to get his hands on the latest gaming sensation by Sony PlayStation 5. It took him three pre-order tries and seven months later he went home with the box in his hand. Many still waited close to two years to get their devices. Between 202023, products and gadgets such as automobiles, graphics cards, video game consoles, computers, household appliances, and other consumer electronics that required semiconductor chips became a tough buy.

For the uninitiated, semiconductors are materials which have the electrical conductivity value of both, conductors which pass electricity and insulators, which resist electricity. The pandemic not only halted the world for a few months but also played a domino effect on the shortage. It impacted the availability of key chips necessary for the manufacturing of other electronics.

South Korea (over 15 per cent) and Taiwan (over 50 per cent), the two largest semicon-producing countries, faced severe impacts on their manufacturing capacities. This was coupled with Taiwan's 2021 drought, the China-United States trade war, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the rise in cryptocurrency mining.

THE INDIAN AMBITION