India plays catch-up in global chip race, offers subsidies to woo firms

Despite a $10 billion incentive package, the country is competing with rich countries offering bigger subsidies, markets and efficient ecosystems to attract investments

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a persuasive pitch to global giants to help make India one of the key partners in the global semiconductor chain backed by a new supportive policy. His virtual address inaugurated the three-day Semicon conference organised by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in Bengaluru. The conference included the who’s who of the business — Intel, Micron Technology, GlobalFoundries, TSMC and Cadence.

All of them agreed that India has the potential to become a global chips powerhouse. Yet, none of them made formal investment commitments. The reality on the ground is that there