Semicon India 2025: Industry flags infra, talent as key challenges

Industry leaders at Semicon India 2025 said India's semiconductor sector faces hurdles including infra gaps, shortage of fab-specific talent and supply chain vulnerabilities

India’s semiconductor industry has witnessed robust growth but continues to face key challenges, said industry representatives at the Semicon India 2025 here on Tuesday. These include infrastructure gaps, a shortage of skilled talent, and supply chain vulnerabilities. 

Srinivas Satya, president of component business and supply chain at Tata Electronics, said though some signs of progress are visible in recent times, the country's semiconductor supply chain is still nascent. 

He said, “There are still plenty of challenges in infrastructure. The construction and design of these facilities themselves is a specialised skill. There, we have gaps in the Indian context in terms of cost-effective semiconductor fabs design and depth of capabilities in the country.” 

On the talent side, Satya added that there is a lack of fab-specific talent, which is required in these facilities. 

“Talent and capability are integral parts of the supply chain, and there is a gap in aligning the right skills and tools at the right time,” he said. 

He added that the industry is geopolitically sensitive and there is a need for risk diversification. 

Echoing the infrastructure challenges, Brian Haas, vice-president and head of global central product engineering at KLA, said India’s semiconductor push faces “greenfield growth” challenges. 

It requires infrastructure to be built from scratch, unlike in mature ecosystems. 

“It was a little different than standard operating procedure to bring up a new map (in India), because the rest of the infrastructure was not in place. So, it requires a bit more attention, specialised training, and visits to ensure that various pieces of infrastructure are in place in the local area. We are well prepared for talent development and have world-class training facilities all over,” he said. 

Haris Osman, senior vice-president of research and development (R&D) organisation IMEC, stressed that India must prioritise R&D, noting it takes years for technologies to transition from research to manufacturing. 

He added that to boost innovation and have skilled talent, the organisation itself has several specialised, industry-relevant PhD programmes, and it is continuously collaborating with industry. 

Commenting on how the government is assisting in resolving these challenges, Mona Khandhar, principal secretary of the Government of Gujarat, said, “The government is running a marathon in parallel as well as in partnership with investors. There is a proactive policy framework for each aspect, such as the main fab, packaging, and design. We are working on developing an industrial infrastructure.”

 

“We are developing a huge semicon city in Dholera and a semicon hub at Sanand, which would be mainly for the packaging industry, and GIFT City, which is for design.” 

Khandhar added that the government is also focusing on human resource development. "We are working on a hub-and-spoke kind of human resource development initiative, which is a very collaborative one," she added.