On 17 September, at the SEMICON India summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly declared that India now had five semiconductor plants in operation.
But there was a crucial detail missing from the announcement: all five plants are chip packaging units.
These plants take chips manufactured elsewhere, connect them, seal them in a casing, and test them before they are shipped to phone or carmakers.
The industry calls this outsourced semiconductor assembly and test, or OSAT.
In other words, India is not yet manufacturing chips at scale.
On 17 September, at the SEMICON India summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proudly declared that India now had five semiconductor plants in operation. He called it a feat worth celebrating. But there was a crucial detail missing from the announcement: all five plants are chip packaging units.
These plants take chips manufactured elsewhere, connect them, seal them in a casing, and test them before they are shipped to phone or carmakers. The industry calls this outsourced semiconductor assembly and test, or OSAT. In other words, India is not yet manufacturing chips at scale. It is building the …
