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India’s Quiet Chip Coup: Four New Semiconductor Plants Approved — And Why You Should Care

The Capital Circuit

• 5 min read
India’s Quiet Chip Coup: Four New Semiconductor Plants Approved — And Why You Should Care
Photo by Laura Ockel / Unsplash

India’s Quiet Chip Coup: Four New Semiconductor Plants Approved — And Why You Should Care

The news, in plain English

India’s Union Cabinet just approved four new semiconductor projects worth roughly ₹4,594 crore (about US$524 million), spread across Odisha, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh. That might not dominate front pages, but in a world scrambling for reliable chip supplies, it’s a subtle but significant shift. The projects include India’s first commercial silicon carbide (SiC) fab, an advanced glass-based packaging unit, an expansion in discrete power semiconductors, and a new system-in-package facility. Together, they nudge the country further into the global chip supply chain. Sources: The Economic Times (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/four-new-semiconductor-units-worth-rs-4594-crore-to-come-up-in-odisha-ap-punjab-union-minister-ashwini-vaishnaw/articleshow/123264210.cms), Times of India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/four-chip-plants-entailing-rs-4-6k-crore-investment-in-ap-odisha-punjab-get-govt-nod/articleshow/123267478.cms), India Briefing (https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/). ([economictimes.indiatimes.com](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/four-new-semiconductor-units-worth-rs-4594-crore-to-come-up-in-odisha-ap-punjab-union-minister-ashwini-vaishnaw/articleshow/123264210.cms), [timesofindia.indiatimes.com](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/four-chip-plants-entailing-rs-4-6k-crore-investment-in-ap-odisha-punjab-get-govt-nod/articleshow/123267478.cms), [india-briefing.com](https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/))

What exactly got the green light?

Here’s the lineup: SiCSem will build a silicon carbide fab in Bhubaneswar with UK partner Clas-SiC; 3D Glass Solutions is setting up an advanced packaging and embedded glass substrate unit (think glass interposers and chiplet plumbing); Continental Device India (CDIL) expands high‑power devices (MOSFETs/IGBTs) in Mohali; and ASIP Technologies will build a system‑in‑package facility in Andhra Pradesh with South Korea’s APACT. Indian media also report that the glass-packaging unit has backing connected to Intel and Lockheed Martin. Sources: India Briefing (https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/); Times of India (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/four-chip-plants-entailing-rs-4-6k-crore-investment-in-ap-odisha-punjab-get-govt-nod/articleshow/123267478.cms). ([india-briefing.com](https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/), [timesofindia.indiatimes.com](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/four-chip-plants-entailing-rs-4-6k-crore-investment-in-ap-odisha-punjab-get-govt-nod/articleshow/123267478.cms))

Why glass and SiC matter (and not just to engineers)

Silicon carbide chips thrive in high‑voltage, high‑temperature environments—perfect for EV drivetrains, charging infrastructure, and industrial gear. More SiC capacity can mean cheaper, more efficient power electronics, which, translated, is EVs that go farther and chargers that waste less energy (your electricity bill quietly thanks you). Meanwhile, glass substrates and chiplet-friendly packaging help stitch together many small compute tiles into one big brain—exactly what today’s AI accelerators need. If the chip is a city, advanced packaging is the highway interchange; glass lets more “lanes” run cooler and flatter. Source: India Briefing (https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/). ([india-briefing.com](https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/))

India’s longer game

These approvals bring total sanctioned projects under India’s semiconductor mission to 10, with cumulative commitments near ₹1.6 lakh crore across six states. They stack atop earlier marquee moves: Tata’s planned fab with Taiwan’s PSMC in Dholera, Micron’s ATMP in Sanand, and a large Tata packaging site in Assam. Think of this as India filling in the “missing middle” between raw wafers and finished AI systems. Sources: Financial Express (https://www.financialexpress.com/business/cabinet-approves-4600-crore-for-four-new-semiconductor-projects-across-three-states-3944369/), India Briefing (https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/). ([financialexpress.com](https://www.financialexpress.com/business/cabinet-approves-4600-crore-for-four-new-semiconductor-projects-across-three-states-3944369/), [india-briefing.com](https://www.india-briefing.com/news/india-4-new-semiconductor-plants-approved-2025-39180.html/))

Connected dots: Japan, AI, and the worldwide “many hubs” strategy

India’s push mirrors a broader trend: move production closer to consumers and diversify away from single‑point failures. Japan is doing this with TSMC’s JASM expansion in Kumamoto and with Rapidus sprinting toward 2‑nanometer chips—different rungs on the same ladder of supply‑chain resilience. As AI demand explodes, having more packaging and power‑electronics capacity near big markets can unclog bottlenecks. Sources: JASM overview (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Advanced_Semiconductor_Manufacturing), Rapidus update (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapidus). ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Advanced_Semiconductor_Manufacturing))

What this means for everyday life

Short term, don’t expect your next laptop to say “Made in Odisha.” Fabs and packaging plants are slow burns. But over the next few years, this could translate to steadier supplies of networking gear, EV components, and even the power chips inside home appliances. For businesses, especially those building AI hardware or electrified transport, more local packaging and power‑device options can lower lead times and reduce currency and logistics risks. Your Wi‑Fi router won’t cheer—but it might arrive on time and cost a bit less.

Risks and what to watch

Execution is everything. Advanced packaging is capital‑intensive and yield‑sensitive; SiC fabs have their own learning curves. There’s also politics: opposition‑ruled states in India already claim favoritism in site selection, a reminder that industrial policy is as much about regions as it is about resistors. Watch for construction milestones, equipment deliveries, and early output in 2026–2027. Source: The Economic Times (political reaction) (https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/oppn-ruled-states-cry-foul-as-andhra-pradesh-gets-semiconductor-project/articleshow/123289497.cms). ([economictimes.indiatimes.com](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/oppn-ruled-states-cry-foul-as-andhra-pradesh-gets-semiconductor-project/articleshow/123289497.cms))

Big picture: why this isn’t just “another factory” story

A slightly cheeky closing thought

For years we treated chips like oxygen—everywhere, taken for granted, and only noticed when it ran low. Moves like these won’t make GPUs rain from the sky, but they do add more lungs to the global system. If the past five years were about panic‑buying, the next five might be about quietly building—one SiC wafer and one glass interposer at a time.

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