India’s semiconductor journey looks “strong”, with policy stability under Semicon 2.0 providing important continuity in the roadmap for the industry, Tata Electronics’ CEO and Managing Director Randhir Thakur has said.
As India races to secure a foothold in the high-stakes global semiconductor industry, Tata Electronics – a key player – is building India’s first commercial semiconductor fab in Dholera, Gujarat, and the first indigenous semiconductor assembly and testing facility in Jagiroad, Assam, with a combined investment of $14 billion, to serve global customers across critical sectors.
“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 in an interview on the sidelines of SEMICON India 2026.
On artificial intelligence, Thakur said advances in semiconductor hardware and compute have helped unlock AI applications and model development.
“The foundation of it is the hardware,” he said, underscoring the semiconductor industry’s critical role in enabling the AI boom.
On Tata Electronics’ semiconductor projects in Gujarat and Assam, he said both the Dholera fabrication plant and Jagiroad packaging facility are progressing according to timelines committed to the government.
Thakur said the 16 memoranda of understanding signed by Tata Electronics during SEMICON India are aimed at building the ecosystem needed to support its semiconductor manufacturing operations, spanning equipment, infrastructure, gases and chemicals, as well as talent development.
He said the Dholera fab alone would require an ecosystem of around 450 suppliers, while some of the partnerships would support the company’s packaging facility at Jagiroad in Assam.
The partnerships would help Tata Electronics set up equipment and manufacturing lines for all customers.
“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 from India, he said.
“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.
Giving an update on the company’s two projects, Thakur said both the Dholera fab and Jagiroad facility are on track with the timelines committed to the government.
“We are on track. We’ll continue driving this. The semiconductor journey for the country looks pretty strong,” Thakur said.
Tata Electronics is building the Dholera fab at a total investment of ₹91,000 crore ($11 billion). The 300-mm (12-inch) Fab will produce semiconductor chips across 28nm to 110nm technology nodes, for various applications, such as automotive, consumer electronics, computing and data storage, wireless communications, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Tata Electronics is investing $3 billion for India’s first indigenous semiconductor packaging facility in Jagiroad, Assam.
