Made in India Chips 2026: Every Semiconductor Plant, What It Actually Makes, and When India Will Build AI Chips
Short answer: yes, India is now making chips, but not the kind most people imagine. Since February 2026, three plants in Gujarat have started commercial work: Micron in Sanand, Kaynes Semicon in Sanand and CG Semi in Sanand. A fourth, Tata's plant in Assam, has begun its first packaging work. All four are assembly, testing and packaging plants. They take silicon wafers made elsewhere and turn them into finished chips.
India's first real wafer fab, Tata Electronics' plant at Dholera, is now expected to start commercial operations in mid-2028, mainly on 90nm technology at first. The AI chips that run ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude are made on 4-nanometre-class processes in Taiwan. India is not close to making those yet, and an Indian-designed GPU is still a 2029 to 2030 goal.
This report lists every approved plant, what each one actually makes, the money behind them, and an honest timeline for when India could build its own AI chips.
Is India making its own chips in 2026?
India is producing chips in 2026, but the first wave is packaging, not wafer making. To see why that distinction matters, it helps to know how a chip is made.
Every chip goes through three broad stages:
- Design. Engineers design the circuit in software. India has done this for decades. Many global chip companies run large design centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Noida.
- Fabrication (the fab). The design is printed onto silicon wafers in a clean-room factory, layer by layer, using lithography machines. This is the hardest and most expensive step. Until a fab opens, India has no large commercial plant that does it.
- Assembly, testing and packaging (ATMP or OSAT). The finished wafer is cut into individual dies, each die is mounted in a package with pins or solder balls, and every chip is tested. This is where India started in 2026.
So when you read "first Made in India chip", it usually means a chip packaged and tested in India from a wafer produced abroad. That is real manufacturing, with real jobs, but most of the chip's value is created in the fab.
Every approved semiconductor plant in India (2026)
Under the first phase of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), the government has approved 12 manufacturing projects with cumulative investment of about ₹1.64 lakh crore. The table lists them all with the latest status we could verify.
| Company | Location | Type | Investment (₹ crore) | Capacity (as reported) | Status (November 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tata Electronics with PSMC (Taiwan) | Dholera, Gujarat | Wafer fab | 91,526 | 50,000 wafer starts a month | Under construction. Commercial operations expected mid-2028 |
| Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test | Jagiroad, Morigaon, Assam | Packaging and test | 27,120 | Up to 48 million chips a day | First packaging work reported in May 2026. Full production targeted this financial year |
| Micron Technology | Sanand, Gujarat | Memory assembly and test | 22,516 | About 10% of Micron's global output at full capacity | Inaugurated 28 February 2026 |
| CG Semi (CG Power with Renesas and Stars Microelectronics) | Sanand, Gujarat | OSAT | 7,584 | 15 million chips a day with its second plant | Commercial production from 4 July 2026 |
| HCL and Foxconn joint venture | Jewar, Uttar Pradesh | Display driver chips | 3,706 | 20,000 wafers a month, 36 million chips a month | Not yet reported as producing |
| Kaynes Semicon | Sanand, Gujarat | OSAT | 3,307 | Over 6.3 million chips a day | Began operations March 2026 |
| SiCSem | Bhubaneswar, Odisha | Silicon carbide fab and packaging | 2,066 | 5,000 wafers a month | Not yet reported as producing |
| 3D Glass Solutions | Bhubaneswar, Odisha | Advanced packaging | 1,943 | Not stated | Not yet reported as producing |
| ASIP Technologies with APACT (Korea) | Andhra Pradesh | Packaging | 480 | About 96 million units a year | Not yet reported as producing |
| Continental Device India (CDIL) | Mohali, Punjab | Discrete devices | 117 | About 158 million units a year | Not yet reported as producing |
| Crystal Matrix and Suchi Semicon (approved together) | Dholera and Surat, Gujarat | Gallium nitride fab, and discrete OSAT | 3,936 combined | Not directly comparable | Approved May 2026 |
Capacity figures come in different units (per day, per month, per year), so they cannot be compared directly. The investment column is the clearer comparison.
Two patterns stand out. First, Gujarat dominates. Sanand, Dholera and Surat host six of the projects. Second, Tata accounts for most of the money. The Dholera fab and the Assam plant alone make up about ₹1.19 lakh crore of the ₹1.64 lakh crore total, roughly 72%.
The four plants already working
Micron, Sanand: India's first chip plant
Micron's ₹22,516 crore plant was inaugurated on 28 February 2026, making it the first semiconductor plant of the mission to go live. It assembles and tests DRAM and NAND memory, and produces solid-state storage products. At full capacity, it is expected to handle about 10% of Micron's worldwide output and employ about 5,000 people directly at its peak.
The wafers themselves are imported from Micron's fabs in other countries. India adds the assembly, packaging and testing. Under the mission, the central government covers 50% of the project cost for plants like this, and Micron was the first company to use it.
Kaynes Semicon, Sanand
Kaynes Semicon's ₹3,307 crore OSAT unit began operations in March 2026, with a stated capacity of more than 6.3 million chips a day. OSAT stands for outsourced semiconductor assembly and test: the plant packages chips for other chip companies.
CG Semi, Sanand
CG Semi, a joint venture led by CG Power with Japan's Renesas and Thailand's Stars Microelectronics, started commercial production on 4 July 2026 in a facility inaugurated by the Prime Minister. It packages both older chip formats (QFN and QFP) and advanced ones (flip-chip BGA and CSP) for cars, industrial equipment, 5G gear and power electronics. Together with a second plant under construction, the company says it can reach 15 million chips a day, or up to 5 billion a year at full operation.
Tata, Jagiroad (Assam)
Tata's ₹27,120 crore plant in Assam is the largest packaging project in the mission. Reports in May 2026 said the first packaging line had moved from Tata's smaller Vemagal facility in Karnataka to start work early. The Union IT Minister said full production should start within the current financial year. At full scale, the plant targets up to 48 million chips a day and about 15,000 direct jobs.
Dholera: India's first real fab, and why it slipped
The ₹91,526 crore Dholera fab, built by Tata Electronics with Taiwan's Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC), is the centrepiece of India's chip plans. It is designed for 50,000 wafer starts a month on 300mm wafers.
Two things changed in 2026:
- The timeline moved. Tata had targeted commercial production by the end of 2026. In July 2026, the IT Minister said commercial operations are now expected in mid-2028.
- The starting node is older. Bloomberg reported that production would rely mainly on 90nm at first. Tata says the fab will cover 28nm to 110nm, starting with 55nm and 90nm and adding 28nm later. PSMC says technology transfer usually begins with mature nodes.
In May 2026, Tata also signed an agreement with ASML, the Dutch company that makes the lithography machines every fab depends on, to support the Gujarat fab.
A 90nm start is not a failure. Mature nodes make the power-management chips, microcontrollers and sensors that go into cars, appliances and phones, and these are exactly the chips that ran short during the 2021 to 2022 global shortage. But it does mean the fab will not make processors or AI chips for years.
What do 90nm, 28nm and 4nm actually mean?
The "nm" number is the name of a manufacturing generation, called a process node. Smaller numbers mean newer generations that pack far more transistors into the same area and use less power per operation. Today the names are partly marketing, but the order still tells you how advanced a process is.
| Node | Typical chips made on it | Where India stands |
|---|---|---|
| 90nm to 110nm | Power management, simple microcontrollers, sensors, automotive control chips | Dholera's first production, from 2028 |
| 40nm to 55nm | Display drivers, IoT chips, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chips | Dholera roadmap |
| 28nm | TV and set-top box chips, car microcontrollers, networking chips, some smartphone parts | Dholera's most advanced planned node |
| 4nm to 5nm class | Flagship phone processors, data-centre AI accelerators | Not planned in India. Made mainly in Taiwan |
| 2nm to 3nm class | The newest phone and AI chips | C-DAC's reported GPU plan would use TSMC for production |
When will India build its own AI chips?
An AI accelerator like Nvidia's data-centre GPUs needs three things India does not yet have at home: a leading-edge fab (4nm class or better), high-bandwidth memory (HBM) stacks, and advanced packaging that joins the two. Even the United States relies on Taiwan for the first and on Korea for most of the second. So "India's own AI chip" will, for the foreseeable future, mean Indian-designed, foreign-manufactured.
Here is where the design effort stands:
- C-DAC's GPU programme. In August 2026, the head of C-DAC Bengaluru said India could have a physical GPU technology demonstrator "very soon" and GPU specialisation "likely by 2029". C-DAC is designing two chips: a full GPU and a simpler AI accelerator for lighter workloads. An earlier report, from June 2025, described a 2nm GPU target for 2030 with a budget of about $200 million and production at TSMC.
- RISC-V processors. Under the DIR-V programme, C-DAC has built the VEGA family of processors and DHRUV64, a 1GHz 64-bit dual-core system-on-chip described as India's first fully homegrown dual-core processor-based SoC. These are general-purpose chips, not AI accelerators, but they are the base for future chiplets.
- Imported GPUs for now. The IndiaAI Mission had onboarded more than 38,000 GPUs on its common compute portal by March 2026. These are imported chips, rented to startups, researchers and students at subsidised rates. Our guide to getting an IndiaAI GPU explains how to apply.
The honest summary: India can realistically package AI-related chips and design an AI accelerator this decade. Manufacturing a competitive AI chip at home is a 2030s question that depends on a leading-edge fab no one has yet committed to build in India.
It also matters that AI chips are limited by more than transistors. As we showed in The Memory Wall, AI response speed is limited mostly by memory bandwidth. That makes HBM and advanced packaging as strategic as the fab itself, and packaging is the one part of the chain India is now building.
India Semiconductor Mission 2.0: what changes next
The first mission, approved in 2021, had an outlay of ₹76,000 crore. On 15 July 2026, the Union Cabinet approved ISM 2.0 with an outlay of ₹1.27 lakh crore.
According to the government, ISM 2.0 has six pillars, starting with chip design. It focuses on the design, development and production of indigenous chips, and adds incentives for suppliers of the materials, minerals and gases that fabs consume. Its stated targets are about ₹4 lakh crore of investment and ₹2 lakh crore of semiconductor production over the scheme period.
The shift in emphasis is important. ISM 1.0 mainly paid for factories. ISM 2.0 puts design first, which is where India already has the deepest talent pool and where an Indian AI chip would start.
What this means for students and jobs
The plants announced so far point to tens of thousands of jobs. Micron expects about 5,000 direct jobs at its peak, Tata's Assam plant about 15,000 direct jobs, and CG Semi about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs over five years. Most of these are in operations, equipment maintenance, quality and testing, not chip design.
If you are a student thinking about semiconductors, three paths are opening:
- Chip design (VLSI). The largest existing job market in India, and the focus of ISM 2.0. Electronics and electrical students can start with digital design, Verilog and an open RISC-V core.
- Fab and packaging operations. Process, equipment and quality engineering roles in Gujarat, Assam and Odisha. Mechanical, chemical and materials backgrounds are in demand here.
- AI systems on top of the hardware. Most AI jobs will still be in software that runs on imported GPUs. Understanding hardware limits, like memory bandwidth and cost per token, is a strong differentiator. See our list of AI project ideas for students.
Will Made in India chips make phones and laptops cheaper?
Not soon, and probably not much. The plants running today package and test chips from imported wafers. Packaging is a small share of a chip's total cost, and the chips are sold into global supply chains at global prices. The bigger benefits are supply security, jobs and the skills base needed for the next steps. Lower prices would come, if at all, after domestic fabs reach scale.
Frequently asked questions
Which is India's first semiconductor plant?
Micron's assembly and test plant in Sanand, Gujarat, inaugurated on 28 February 2026, was the first plant under the India Semiconductor Mission to start operations. It assembles and tests memory chips from wafers made abroad.
Is India making its own chips in 2026?
Yes, at the packaging and testing stage. Micron, Kaynes Semicon and CG Semi in Sanand are operating, and Tata's Assam plant has started its first packaging work. India's first commercial wafer fab, at Dholera, is expected in mid-2028.
How many semiconductor plants are approved in India?
Twelve manufacturing projects had been approved under the first phase of the India Semiconductor Mission by mid-2026, with cumulative investment of about ₹1.64 lakh crore. Six of them are in Gujarat.
What is the difference between a fab and an OSAT plant?
A fab prints the circuits onto silicon wafers. An OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) plant cuts finished wafers into chips, packages them and tests them. Fabs are far more complex and expensive. Most of India's operating plants in 2026 are OSAT or ATMP plants.
Does India make AI chips?
Not yet. AI accelerators are made on 4nm-class or newer processes, mostly in Taiwan. India's most advanced planned node is 28nm. C-DAC is designing an indigenous GPU and AI accelerator, with specialisation expected around 2029, but production would happen abroad.
What is India Semiconductor Mission 2.0?
ISM 2.0 is the second phase of India's chip programme, approved by the Union Cabinet on 15 July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1.27 lakh crore. It puts chip design first and adds incentives for materials and gases, targeting about ₹4 lakh crore of investment.
Where is India's first chip fab?
At Dholera, Gujarat, built by Tata Electronics with Taiwan's PSMC at a cost of ₹91,526 crore. It will start mainly with 90nm production and add nodes down to 28nm.
Limits of this report
- Status changes fast. Plant timelines have slipped before. We list the latest public statements as of early November 2026.
- Capacity figures are company or government claims. They describe targets at full scale, not current output.
- "Not yet reported as producing" means we found no public report of production. It does not mean a project has stalled.
- The AI chip timelines are official ambitions. C-DAC's dates come from interviews and media reports, not a published roadmap.
Sources
- Semiconductor Plants in India 2026: Complete List (Adda247, August 2026)
- India set to enter global chipmakers' club with Micron's Sanand debut (Business Standard, 28 February 2026)
- PM inaugurates commercial production at CG Semi's OSAT facility (Swarajya, 4 July 2026)
- Tata's India fab reportedly to launch at 90nm, production in mid-2028 (TrendForce, 20 July 2026)
- Jagiroad semiconductor plant set to begin production this financial year (India Today NE, 31 May 2026)
- Tata Electronics begins production at Assam plant (Techloy, May 2026)
- Cabinet approves ₹1.27 lakh crore for Semicon Mission 2.0 (ThePrint, 15 July 2026)
- India can build indigenous GPU by 2029, says C-DAC Bengaluru chief (Analytics India Magazine, 19 August 2026)
- India fast-tracks homegrown 2nm GPU, targets 2030 (Outlook Business, June 2025)
- IndiaAI Mission onboards 38,000+ GPUs (Devdiscourse, March 2026)