India's new semiconductor plants begins commercial chip production; government eyes next phase: MEITY Secy

New Delhi [India], December 18 (ANI): India's newly established semiconductor manufacturing units have begun producing commercial chips, marking a major milestone in the country's efforts to build a domestic electronics and manufacturing ecosystem, S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, said today.

"All the 10 units that have been set up will manufacture commercial chips. Already the production of commercial chips is started," Krishnan told media on the sidelines of the A(I)NDIA Conclave-2025 held in the national capital.

Krishnan said India's semiconductor programme was moving steadily towards full commitment under its first phase.

"As you know 10 projects are grounded, and another 2 and 3 will get approved, and then ISM 1.0 will be fully committed," he said.

He added that the government was nearing completion of infrastructure upgrades. "We are at the final stages of HCL modernisation as well, so with that, ISM 1.0 will be done, and we will be working on ISM 2.0, and the work is on."

Alongside chip manufacturing, the government is seeking to build momentum around artificial intelligence adoption through extensive stakeholder engagement. "See, I think we are doing a number of Pre-events to create a momentum for extensive participation for the range of agencies and also from industries and other stakeholders and expectations what the AI Summit holds," Krishnan said.

He said the decision to frame the upcoming global gathering as an India AI Impact Summit 2026 was intentional.

"This is a kind of mobilisation that we are trying to achieve. It's intended as AI Impact Summit, then that is a deliberate choice the idea is to emphases the kind of impact that AI can have on economies and societies across the world," he said, adding that the difference it can make for economic development and the positive dimension on how AI can significantly accelerate the India's growth path as well

The main objective is to achieve the target of developed nation by 2047

Krishnan said interest from stakeholders had exceeded expectations. "India AI Impact Summit 2026 response is extremely good," he said. "People are enthusiastically coming forward to participate. The participation has wide range. We planned to do earlier 100 Pre-events then 200, and now over 400 events were organised before the actual Summit."

He acknowledged concerns around the impact of artificial intelligence on employment. "AI can actually enhance productivity in number of sectors. As a government there are concerned on both sides. AI may lead to job losses but it will also create new set of jobs," he said.

Krishnan said innovation remained central to India's technology push but needed to be anchored in responsibility.

"Innovation is the primary object and the final push we are looking at. There should be the spirit of responsibility," he said. "In this summit, everybody is coming together to make it happen."(ANI)

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