Semiconductor industry flags need for more process and product engineers

Industry representatives say India needs more experienced process and product engineers, stronger STEM education and manufacturing talent as it pushes into advanced packaging.

Industry representatives highlighted the need for an experienced talent pool in the country’s semiconductor ecosystem while discussing the push towards advanced packaging at Semicon 2026 here.

 

Speaking at a roundtable on advanced packaging, industry representatives cited sustained reliance on imported engineers and the need to improve the nation’s STEM education even as they acknowledged India’s lead in design engineers.

 

The concerns of industry leaders add an important nuance to the positioning of India as a talent hub employing nearly 20 per cent of the global semiconductor chip design workforce.

 

“In most cases, they (engineers) are actually coming from outside India at this stage and that can all introduce delays and introduce risks in all kinds of places,” Akshay Singh, corporate vice-president, advanced packaging technology development, Micron, said. He was referring to Micron's experience in establishing the assembly, test and packaging plant facility in Sanand, Gujarat.

  

“I would say, in STEM education personally we're still behind China. Not because of the capability of the people, maybe more to the system than the people,” Babu Mandava, president & CEO of 3DGS, said while terming the country's talent as good.

 

Manish Ranjan, head of business management and heterogeneous integration at Applied Materials, further mentioned the role of process and product engineers when asked about challenges.

 

“You can get the equipment, but at the end of the day you have to run production. You need to make sure you have competent process and product engineers. And then finally, even if you can make it, it's a question about making it on scale and doing it to a good yield,” he said.

 

“You can qualify a product, but you need to qualify the entire factory and all of your systems along with it, especially when you start to ramp. Systems include many things. It includes the people themselves, the training associated, the quality systems that you need in place..” Tim McIntosh, vice-president - business head and head of Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test Operations and Manufacturing, said.