India’s Semiconductor Gambit: The Audacious Leap from 28nm to 7nm and What It Truly Means 

India is making an ambitious strategic pivot in its semiconductor mission, announcing plans to advance from manufacturing 28-nanometer chips to producing highly advanced 5-7 nm chips, a move that represents a quantum leap in complexity and places the nation in direct competition with global leaders. This audacious goal, outlined by MeitY Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh, is driven by the need for strategic autonomy in critical technologies and aims to power India’s own AI revolution by enabling the domestic design and production of AI-specific chips and GPUs.

While the foundation has been laid through a pragmatic initial phase that established assembly and packaging plants (ATMP/OSAT) and secured over ₹1.6 lakh crore in investments, the jump to 7nm presents monumental challenges, including the need for prohibitively expensive Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines and a resilient supply chain. The government’s strategy to bridge this gap involves the upcoming “Semicon 2.0” policy, which will employ a design-led incentive scheme to first cultivate a ecosystem of advanced chip designs, thereby creating the demand to justify building cutting-edge fabrication plants, all while leveraging geopolitical tailwinds and partnerships to position India as a trusted partner in the global semiconductor supply chain.

India’s Semiconductor Gambit: The Audacious Leap from 28nm to 7nm and What It Truly Means 

For decades, the global semiconductor industry has been a high-stakes game played by a select few. Nations with the technological prowess, immense capital, and intricate supply chains to manufacture advanced chips have held immense economic and strategic power. India, a latecomer to this arena, is not just asking for a seat at the table; it is now declaring its intention to compete at the highest level. 

The recent announcement by Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary of MeitY, that India’s semiconductor mission is pivoting towards manufacturing advanced 5-7 nanometre (nm) chips marks a watershed moment. It’s a statement of ambition that shifts the narrative from playing catch-up to aiming for the forefront. But what does this leap truly entail? Is it a pragmatic next step or a monumental moonshot? This deep dive explores the strategy, the stakes, and the profound implications of India’s bold semiconductor vision. 

From Foundation to Frontier: The Journey So Far 

To appreciate the audacity of targeting 5-7nm, one must first acknowledge the progress made. Launched in 2021, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was seeded with a formidable ₹76,000 crore (approx. $10 billion) Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme. The strategy was characteristically pragmatic: 

• Start with the “Legacy” Nodes: Rather than immediately challenging Taiwan’s TSMC or South Korea’s Samsung at the cutting edge (3nm and below), India wisely targeted the 28nm to 65nm range. These older, more mature nodes are less complex to manufacture but are the workhorses of the global electronics industry, found in everything from automobiles and consumer appliances to critical infrastructure and defence systems. 

• Build the Ecosystem from the Back: A key first step has been establishing Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) or Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) facilities. As Singh noted, plants are underway in Gujarat, Assam, and Odisha. The recent launch of CG-Semi’s OSAT pilot line in Sanand is a tangible milestone—it’s where imported silicon wafers get turned into finished, packaged chips, creating the foundational skills and supply chain for more complex work. 

• Leverage Domestic Giants: Partnerships with industrial houses like the Tata Group provide not just capital but also project execution prowess and long-term strategic commitment. 

This phased approach has yielded results: 10 approved projects across six states with over ₹1.60 lakh crore in committed investments. The foundation, however shaky some critics might argue, is undeniably being poured. 

The 7nm Chasm: Why This Leap is Different 

Moving from 28nm to 7nm is not a simple linear progression; it’s a quantum leap into a different league of physics, engineering, and economics. 

• The Physics Barrier: As chip features shrink to the atomic scale, quantum mechanical effects like electron tunneling become major problems. Manufacturing at 7nm requires Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, arguably the most complex machinery ever built. There is only one company in the world that makes EUV machines: ASML in the Netherlands. Their systems cost hundreds of millions of dollars each, and the global supply is limited and monopolized by the leading foundries. 

• The Economic Mountain: Establishing a single advanced fabrication plant (fab) can cost $10-$20 billion. The entire current PLI scheme is roughly the cost of one advanced fab. This necessitates a monumental increase in financial commitment, likely requiring massive foreign direct investment (FDI) and partnerships with global tech giants. 

• The “Silicon to System” Challenge: A fab is useless without a constant stream of complex designs to produce. This requires a vibrant domestic chip design industry (where India already has strength) and a reliable, high-quality supply of over 300 critical materials, gases, and components from a resilient supply chain that India currently lacks. 

Decoding the Strategy: How India Plans to Bridge the Gap 

Given these Himalayan challenges, how does MeitY plan to succeed? Singh’s comments reveal a multi-pronged strategy: 

• Semicon 2.0 and Design-Led Incentives: The next phase of the mission appears focused on a “design-led” approach. This is astute. Instead of building a fab and hoping designers come, it incentivizes Indian chip design companies to create cutting-edge IP (like AI processors and GPUs). Proven, high-volume designs would then create the demand justification for building an advanced domestic fab. This de-risks the massive capital investment. 

• The AI and GPU Imperative: This is the core strategic insight. The global race in Artificial Intelligence is, at its hardware core, a race for powerful Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) and AI-specific accelerators. These chips are primarily built on advanced nodes (7nm, 5nm, and below). By linking semiconductor advancement to AI sovereignty, India makes a compelling national security and economic argument for the investment. It’s not just about making chips; it’s about powering its own future in critical technology. 

• Geopolitical Tailwinds: The global “China-plus-one” strategy and the desire of nations like the US, Japan, and South Korea to diversify their semiconductor supply chains away from geopolitical hotspots creates a unique window of opportunity. India can position itself as a stable, democratic partner in a trusted, diversified supply chain, attracting technology transfer and partnerships. 

The Human and Economic Impact: Beyond Geopolitics 

The success of this mission transcends technology and geopolitics; it has a profound human dimension. 

• Job Creation: While advanced fabs are highly automated, they create thousands of high-skilled jobs in engineering, research, and development. More importantly, they spawn a massive ecosystem of suppliers, ancillary industries, and service providers, creating a multiplier effect across the economy. 

• Strategic Autonomy: Reliance on imported chips cripples a nation’s strategic autonomy. From fighter jets and satellites to power grids and communication networks, control over the underlying hardware is a non-negotiable aspect of modern security. Domestic capacity, even if not fully self-sufficient, drastically reduces critical vulnerabilities. 

• The Innovation Flywheel: A mature semiconductor ecosystem acts as the ultimate innovation flywheel. It attracts top global talent, fosters deep-tech startups, and ensures that Indian engineers and companies are not just users of technology but creators and shapers of the global technological future. 

The Road Ahead: Cautious Optimism and Sober Realism 

India’s declaration of its 5-7nm ambition is a powerful signal of intent. It is a necessary goal for a nation with global leadership aspirations. However, the path is fraught with challenges that demand: 

• Unwavering Political Will: This is a 20-year marathon, not a 5-year sprint. It requires consistent policy support across political cycles. 

• Deep Global Collaboration: India cannot do this alone. Forging strong technology partnerships with leading foundries, IDMs (Integrated Device Manufacturers), and equipment suppliers is crucial. 

• A Focus on STEM: Doubling down on education in science, technology, engineering, and math is essential to cultivate the talent pool needed to operate and advance these technologies. 

The announcement from MeitY is not a promise of imminent success, but a declaration of a serious, well-considered strategy. India has laid the foundation. It has defined a compelling “why” in AI sovereignty. The world is now watching to see if it can execute the incredibly difficult “how.” The journey from Sanand’s 28nm beginnings to a future 7nm fab will be one of the most defining economic and technological stories of this decade.