SEMICON India 2026: Whole-of-Industry Push for Semiconductors

India's electronics and semiconductor sector is being asked to stop thinking in separate pieces. At SEMICON India 2026, a panel titled "Industry Associations Advancing India's National Agenda" argued that the next round of growth cannot come from any one segment working on its own, and called instead for a whole-of-industry approach that turns scattered strengths into one national capability.

Who led the discussion

The session was moderated by Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Chief Executive Officer of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), and brought senior office-bearers of the leading industry associations to the same table.

The argument made

Chips, the panel noted, no longer carry value on their own. Their worth appears when they sit inside a device, a product or a system. Fabrication leans on materials and equipment, and manufacturing leans in turn on packaging, testing and the wider electronics base. Because the parts depend on each other, the associations that speak for them need firmer links across the value chain.

Speakers also wanted the conversation to outlive the conference. They floated a standing community mechanism, a permanent forum where the associations could keep talking and coordinate on questions of national importance. It would not replace any body's specialised role; it would give them common ground. All of this sits under the wider Silicon to Systems vision, where design, manufacturing, packaging and technology solutions move together.

The event by numbers

• More than 600 exhibitors took part, of whom nearly 300 were international companies.
• 56 MoUs, strategic initiatives and industry announcements were recorded, spread across manufacturing, design, packaging, artificial intelligence, research and development, logistics and skilling.

Where government support stands

The Production Linked Incentive schemes and the India Semiconductor Mission remain the main instruments for building domestic capability. Under the Semicon India programme the government has cleared 12 semiconductor projects, and as of September 2026 five commercial semiconductor units are already running. The message from the sector is that the story has moved past building factories: what now decides the pace is how well industries, institutions and technologies connect to one another.