India is steadily strengthening its semiconductor talent pipeline through the Chips to Startups (C2S) initiative under the India Semiconductor Mission. The programme focuses on training skilled engineers and building a strong domestic semiconductor ecosystem through academic and industry collaboration.
Over the past four years, the initiative has made notable progress toward its ten year target of training 85,000 engineers in semiconductor design. The government continues to prioritise talent development through training, upskilling, and workforce programmes that support the country’s ambitions in advanced electronics and chip manufacturing.
Expanding Semiconductor Education Nationwide
Students across India are actively gaining practical experience in semiconductor technologies through the C2S initiative. Currently, 315 academic institutions participate in the programme. These institutions span the country from Assam to Gujarat and from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
To support this training, world class Electronic Design Automation tools are available in participating institutions. Companies such as Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens, Renesas, Ansys, and AMD provide these tools as part of the initiative. As a result, students gain hands on experience in semiconductor chip design.
These chips are fabricated and tested at the Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali. This approach allows students to experience the full semiconductor lifecycle. They engage in chip design, fabrication, packaging, and testing as part of their training.
Consequently, the programme has developed into the world’s largest open access Electronic Design Automation initiative. So far, students have recorded more than 1.85 crore hours of EDA tool usage for chip design training.
Growing Demand for Semiconductor Talent
The semiconductor industry continues to expand globally. Current estimates place the industry’s size between 800 billion and 900 billion US dollars. However, projections suggest it may grow to nearly 2 trillion dollars in the coming years.
This growth will create demand for nearly two million skilled professionals worldwide. Therefore, India sees a major opportunity to position its youth within this expanding sector.
Students across academic institutions throughout the country now actively participate in semiconductor design training. This growing engagement represents an important milestone in strengthening India’s technological capabilities and promoting greater self reliance in advanced electronics.
India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 Expansion
The government plans to further scale the initiative under India Semiconductor Mission 2.0. The programme will expand from the current 315 academic institutions to 500 institutions across the country.
This expansion aims to create a continuous pipeline of trained engineers in semiconductor design, fabrication, packaging, and testing. By widening institutional participation, the programme will strengthen semiconductor education across every state.
The government continues to emphasise talent development, infrastructure creation, and industry collaboration. These efforts form a key pillar of India’s long term semiconductor strategy.
Through initiatives like Chips to Startups, India aims to build a strong and self reliant semiconductor ecosystem. The country is positioning itself to play a significant role in the global semiconductor supply chain while creating new employment opportunities for its young workforce.
With inputs from Reuters