Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, 16 September hosted a high-level roundtable in New Delhi with leading global semiconductor executives, urging them to actively participate in the next phase of India's semiconductor growth. The meeting, convened under the expanding India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 framework, signals a deliberate push to move the sector from foundational groundwork to large-scale industrial deployment.

Key Developments at the Roundtable

According to a PMO statement, Modi stressed the critical importance of sustained collaboration between the government and the global semiconductor industry in shaping India's technology trajectory. He pointed to India's existing strengths — a deep talent pool, growing infrastructure, and rapid technology adoption — as the bedrock for the next leap forward.

The Prime Minister specifically called for greater industry involvement in skilling, innovation, and emerging fields such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Quantum Computing. Referencing the government's target of training one crore people in AI, he argued that India's human capital, combined with the expertise of global industry leaders, could generate transformational opportunities across the value chain.

Who Was in the Room

The roundtable brought together an unusually broad cross-section of the global semiconductor ecosystem. Attendees included senior representatives and CEOs from SEMI, Micron, Infineon, Applied Materials, ASML, Merck, Tokyo Electron Ltd, Fujifilm, AMD, Intel, Tata Electronics, Lam Research, Rapidus, NXP, Foxconn, Semi Conductor Devices, Advantest, Celesta Capital, CG Power, and IBM Research, among others. The list spans equipment makers, chip designers, materials suppliers, and manufacturers — effectively covering the full semiconductor stack.

What the Government Committed

Modi reiterated the Centre's commitment to a predictable and responsive policy environment, acknowledging that policies must evolve in step with technological change and industry needs. He invited the assembled executives to submit concrete suggestions on policy and administrative reforms, assuring them that such inputs would receive due consideration in further strengthening the sector. This open-door approach to policy co-creation is a departure from more top-down industrial strategies of the past.

Industry Response and Confidence in ISM 2.0

The assembled CEOs, according to the PMO statement, expressed appreciation for the government's sustained efforts across manufacturing, design, infrastructure, and talent development. They voiced confidence in the opportunities emerging under ISM 2.0 and in India's potential to build competitive capabilities spanning manufacturing, R&D, advanced technologies, and supporting industries.

Notably, the executives acknowledged that progress achieved in recent years has laid a credible foundation for deeper industry participation. They collectively affirmed their commitment to contributing to India's emergence as a globally competitive semiconductor and technology hub.

Why This Matters

This comes amid an intensifying global race to diversify semiconductor supply chains away from concentrated manufacturing in East Asia. The United States, the European Union, and Japan have each committed hundreds of billions of dollars to domestic chip production. India, through ISM and associated incentive schemes, is positioning itself as an alternative destination — particularly for design, packaging, and increasingly, fabrication. The breadth of companies at Wednesday's roundtable suggests that positioning is gaining traction among industry decision-makers. The next critical test will be whether policy commitments translate into firm investment announcements and on-ground capacity additions.