India’s semiconductor journey is looking “pretty strong”, with policy continuity under the government’s Semicon 2.0 programme providing a stable roadmap for the industry, Tata Electronics CEO and Managing Director Randhir Thakur told Press Trust of India in an interview.

Tata Electronics is building India’s first commercial semiconductor fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, and the country’s first indigenous semiconductor assembly and testing facility in Jagiroad, Assam. The two projects involve a combined investment of $14 billion and are aimed at serving customers across key global industries.

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“In our business, it is about continuity, and semiconductor is a roadmap-based journey. It is really very encouraging to see that after Semiconductor 1.0 scheme, the government has come up with Semiconductor 2.0...so that continuity, that roadmap is very important. We believe that in this business, as we generate the cash flow, we will always be investing and continue on this,” Thakur told PTI on the sidelines of SEMICON India 2026.

Thakur said both Tata Electronics projects are progressing according to the timelines committed to the government, as the company works to build a wider domestic ecosystem around semiconductor manufacturing.

“We are on track. We'll continue driving this. The semiconductor journey for the country looks pretty strong,” he said.

Tata Electronics has signed 16 memoranda of understanding during SEMICON India as it looks to build the network of suppliers and partners required to support its semiconductor operations.

The partnerships span equipment, infrastructure, gases and chemicals, as well as talent development. Thakur said the Dholera fab alone would require an ecosystem of around 450 suppliers, while several partnerships will also support the packaging facility in Assam.

“For Tata Electronics, these 16 MoUs and what we have done previously with some of our other customers and partners, is very important because, here in India for us to get the ecosystem set up, if you look at our Dholera fab, we are looking at about 450 or so suppliers who have to come here to support us in producing chips, so the MoUs we have signed, they range from equipment companies to support our Jagiroad Assam packaging facility, also to support some of the activities in Dholera, whether it is in infrastructure or it is gas and chemicals. These 16 players are very important because they will come in with a commitment to work together to help us set up the equipment, set up the line for our customers, so we can start product qualification,” Thakur said.

Some of the partners are Indian companies, part of an effort to build domestic capabilities around semiconductor manufacturing, he said.

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“The reason for that is you saw that towards the talent building...we want to make sure that we are building (orienting) the youth more along the lines of semiconductor manufacturing technology, and those MoUs are a commitment basically for us to start that DNA in the country at a very grassroots level,” he said.

Tata Electronics is investing Rs 91,000 crore ($11 billion) in its Dholera semiconductor fab. The 300-mm (12-inch) facility will manufacture chips using technology nodes ranging from 28nm to 110nm for applications including automobiles, consumer electronics, computing and data storage, wireless communications and artificial intelligence.

The company is investing another $3 billion in the semiconductor packaging facility at Jagiroad in Assam, which it has described as India's first indigenous semiconductor packaging facility.

Thakur also highlighted the role of semiconductor hardware and computing capacity in the rapid development of artificial intelligence applications and models.

“The foundation of it is the hardware,” he said, underscoring the importance of semiconductor technology to the broader AI ecosystem.