Almost four decades ago, India began semiconductor manufacturing — even before the world’s biggest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company which has now become a $50 billion company. Had that early effort succeeded, India could have been at the forefront of today’s AI-driven technological revolution. But a mysterious fire and years of policy neglect derailed those ambitions.
India’s first semiconductor manufacturing unit in Mohali still manufactures chips today, but largely for strategic government applications in the space and defence sectors, using decades-old technology.
