In today's story, we talk about India's Kaynes Semicon plant in Gujarat — what it is, why it matters, and what it will take for India to truly become a chip-making nation.
Quick disclaimer before we begin. Stocks or sectors mentioned here are only for context and not investment advice. Please do your own research or consult a registered financial advisor before investing.
Now onto today's story.
The Story
For the longest time, every smartphone you bought, every car that rolled off the line, every defence radar that tracked a signal across the border — all of it ran on chips that India had no part in making.
India designed them, sure. Indian engineers at Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD have been doing world-class chip design work for decades. But when it came to actually building the chip, packaging it, testing it, and shipping it out? That happened somewhere else. Taiwan, South Korea, China, Malaysia. Never here.
That changed, at least partly, on March 31, 2026.
So what exactly happened in Sanand?
Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the Kaynes Semicon facility in Sanand, Gujarat. The plant, built at a cost of ₹3,300 crore, is now commercially operational. It focuses on what is called OSAT — Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test. In plain English, chips that have been fabricated elsewhere come here to be packaged, assembled into modules, and tested before they go into real products.
It is not a chip fabrication plant. It does not make chips from scratch. But that distinction matters less than it sounds, and we will get to that.
What Kaynes is producing right now are Intelligent Power Modules, or IPMs. These are complex components where multiple chips are integrated into a single package. They are used in electric vehicles, industrial motors, and energy-efficient appliances. A large share of the first production run has already been booked for export to a California-based company. When fully scaled, the facility is expected to produce around 63 lakh units per day.
But why does any of this matter to you?
To understand that, you have to go back to 2020.
When COVID hit, the world ground to a halt. Factories shut. Ships stopped moving. And suddenly, everyone discovered the same uncomfortable truth at the same time: the entire global economy ran on chips made in a handful of places, none of which you had any control over.
India was not spared. The 2021-22 Economic Survey flagged that the chip shortage had forced firms across industries to close or reduce production. Carmakers idled assembly lines because they could not get microcontrollers. Consumer electronics shipments fell behind. Defence procurement hit delays.
And here is what made it worse. India was importing over 90% of its semiconductor requirements. From countries that, given the geopolitical tensions of that era, were not exactly sources of comfort. China supplied a significant share. Taiwan supplied more. And if either faced a crisis — a pandemic, a natural disaster, a military escalation — India would have no fallback.
That is when the India Semiconductor Mission was born.
What has India actually built since 2021?
The government launched the India Semiconductor Mission in late 2021 and backed it with a ₹76,000 crore incentive package. The goal was not just to attract foreign companies but to build a domestic ecosystem — fabrication, packaging, testing, design, and eventually materials.
Five years later, 10 projects worth over ₹1,60,000 crore are underway across six states. Micron Technology opened its assembly and testing facility in the same Sanand cluster just a month before Kaynes. Tata Electronics is building a full chip fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, in partnership with Taiwan's PSMC. CG Power, Renesas, and STARS Microelectronics have a packaging plant in the works. The government has also announced Semiconductor Mission 2.0, shifting focus toward semiconductor equipment and raw materials — the deeper layers of the supply chain.
Sanand is beginning to look like what Modi called it: a bridge to Silicon Valley.
So is India now a semiconductor nation?
Not yet. And it would be dishonest to say otherwise.
What India is building right now sits at the assembly and packaging end of the value chain. That is important work, but it is not the same as being where Taiwan sits with 60% of global fabrication capacity, or where South Korea sits with advanced memory chips. The cutting-edge stuff — 5nm, 3nm, and beyond — still happens elsewhere, and will for years.
There are real execution challenges too. Semiconductor fabs need uninterrupted power, ultra-pure water, and a very specific kind of talent that takes years to build. India has infrastructure gaps. There is a shortage of specialists. And the supply chain for materials — specialty gases, silicon wafers, photolithography chemicals — still runs through Japan, the Netherlands, and Taiwan.
What India is doing right now is the right first move for its stage of the game. Packaging and testing before fabrication. Domestic companies like Kaynes before inviting every global giant. Mature chip nodes before pushing for the bleeding edge. This is not a sprint. It is a very long relay race, and India has just picked up the baton.
What does this mean for investors and the broader economy?
India's semiconductor market currently stands at around $50 billion and is projected to cross $100 billion by the end of this decade. That demand exists regardless of whether India makes chips here or imports them. What changes with domestic production is where that value is captured.
For investors, the broader electronics manufacturing chain is worth watching. OSAT players, EV component makers, and companies building out ancillary supply infrastructure all sit in the upstream of what Sanand is enabling. But valuation, execution timelines, and global competition remain real risks. The semiconductor race is expensive, brutally competitive, and measured in decades, not quarters.
For India as a whole, the strategic argument is simpler. A country that cannot make chips cannot truly be sovereign in AI, in defence, in clean energy, or in anything that runs on computation. Every chip plant that comes online here is a small reduction in that vulnerability.
Kaynes started production in Sanand. Micron is running next door. Tata is building in Dholera. The Dhruv 64, India's own indigenous microprocessor for 5G and automotive applications, exists.
India has been designing chips for the world for three decades. It is now, slowly and deliberately, learning to build them too.
The sleeping giant has woken up. Whether it stays awake long enough to matter is the question worth asking.
Until then…
If this helped you understand something you did not before, share it with someone who would appreciate it.
This article is for educational purposes only. Not investment advice.
Happy Investing 😎
Nataraj Malavade Investor, Trader, Author & Mentor www.natarajmalavade.in
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Publication |
Article |
Link |
| 1 |
Kaynes Semicon |
India's Silicon Ambition: PM Modi to Inaugurate Kaynes Facility |
Read |
| 2 |
Business Today |
PM Modi Inaugurates Rs 3,300 Crore Kaynes Semiconductor Plant in Gujarat |
Read |
| 3 |
ANI |
PM Narendra Modi Inaugurates Kaynes Semicon Plant at Sanand, Gujarat |
Read |
| 4 |
Free Press Journal |
PM Modi Inaugurates Sanand Semiconductor Plant |
Read |
| 5 |
Desh Gujarat |
PM Modi Inaugurates the Kaynes Semicon Plant at Sanand |
Read |
| 6 |
PingTV India |
Kaynes Semicon OSAT Plant in Gujarat |
Read |
| 7 |
India's World |
India's Semiconductor Mission 2.0: From Fabs to Ecosystems |
Read |
| 8 |
SAIS Review |
Strategic Redundancy in Semiconductor Supply Chains |
Read |
| 9 |
World Scientific |
The US-China Chip War and Prospects for India Semiconductor Cooperation |
Read |
| 10 |
Straits Research |
India's Bold Push into the Global Semiconductor Industry |
Read |
| 11 |
Business Today |
What's India Semiconductor Mission |
Read |
