Support for chips to continue for next couple of decades, single window clearance soon: Meity Officer

Bengaluru, Feb 25 (PTI) The government remains committed to supporting the semiconductor ecosystem for the long term, potentially for the next couple of decades, as it has happened in advanced nations, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

While addressing the IESA Vision Summit 2026 virtually, the Ministry of Electronics and IT, Additional Secretary, Amitesh Sinha, said that the government is soon going to launch a portal to facilitate single window clearance for vendors of semiconductor manufacturing units.

"It's a long-term game and India is not here for a couple of years. We are here for a very long time, maybe 20-25 years, and we understand the kind of support we get for this industry. Worldwide, we have also seen that the countries that have very advanced semiconductor facilities have also supported their industry for two to five decades. This is a kind of marathon and not a T20. We are ready for that," Sinha said.

He said the few more semiconductor projects are expected to be finalised under India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 1.0 by next month after which ISM 2.0 will be rolled out.

Sinha said that the government will bring more ecosystem partners under ISM 2.0 and it is also in discussion with existing investors to upscale their projects in the country.

"We would like to have cooperation from all industries to have a kind of arrangement with academia and industry. The government will also be party to that to develop a semiconductor-centric curriculum," he said.

Sinha said that the development of curriculum as per semiconductor industry requirement will facilitate and address the requirement of scaling up talents for not only for design semiconductor manufacturing and packaging.

"It will also cover the requirement of equipment manufacturing or R&D for engineers or operators required for chemical, gases and materials," he said.

The Meity Additional Secretary said that the government is aware of the fact that some of the foreign companies who are coming to India to provide materials or supply items for semiconductor companies are facing some problems.

"Companies from Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, European countries and a few other companies are facing some problems. We are trying to develop a portal in India Semiconductor Mission where we will provide a single window for those companies who are having problems," Sinha said.

He said that the government is trying to onboard stakeholders who can answer questions related to ISM, schemes and policies.

"We have developed a portal and very soon we will launch," Sinha said. PTI PRS MR