Diversify partnerships amid China dominance, Vikram Misri tells chipmakers

Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says semiconductor self-reliance requires sovereign capabilities in critical areas while maintaining global partnerships and openness

Chipmakers should move away from concentrated partnerships to reduce vulnerabilities arising from dependence on a single source,  Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said at Semicon India 2026 on Friday. He was hinting at China’s dominance in rare-earth processing and advanced-node manufacturing.

 

He suggested that countries, including India, need to create credible alternatives while avoiding confrontation.

 

“No nation builds a chip alone. Design talent sits in one country, equipment in another, fabrication in a third, materials in a fourth, assembly in a fifth. No geography holds every single link,” Misri said.

 

A nation trying to build everything within its own borders risks facing higher costs, slower innovation and a more isolated industrial base, the foreign secretary said. “Self-reliance means knowing exactly where our capabilities and capacities must be sovereign, and building it with discipline.”

 

India is investing to build indigenous capability in design, packaging and manufacturing, while inviting the world’s leading equipment makers, material suppliers and design houses to build alongside Indian companies, Misri said.

 

He also spoke about the dependence of the domestic semiconductor industry on imported equipment and materials, as well as the need to build fluency across regulatory environments.

 

He highlighted India’s advantages for global chipmakers. The country possesses a young, English-fluent engineering and design talent base, a domestic market that is already enormous and continues to scale rapidly, political-democratic stability and credibility, he said.

 

“India’s ambition in this spirit is not to compete for dominance in this industry. It is to be a partner, to partner companies actively that they want to build with. Reliable and honest about its gaps and genuinely open to the world,” Misri added.

 

In his address, the foreign secretary framed the semiconductor industry as a “shared national project”, saying that government incentives are being offered globally to keep respective domestic industries moving ahead in the race.