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India Strengthens Semiconductor Talent Pipeline Under Semicon India Programme and Semicon 2.0

Over 100,000 engineers trained at NIELIT Calicut’s SMART Lab, 68,000 chip design professionals developed under the C2S programme and 175 chip tape-outs completed at SCL Mohali — backed by Rs. 1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 to build India’s semiconductor workforce at scale.

Published: 03 August 2026   Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India

Semiconductor Talent Programme — Key Achievements

1 Lakh+

Engineers Trained
SMART Lab, NIELIT Calicut

~68,000

Chip Design Professionals Trained
Under the C2S Programme

175

Chip Designs Tape-Out Completed
At SCL Mohali

24M+ hrs

EDA Tool Usage Recorded
Across engineering institutions

₹1.27 L Cr

Semicon 2.0 Programme Outlay
Equivalent to US$ 13.56 billion

60,000

Professionals to be Trained by Lam Research
Nanofabrication over the next decade

AICTE

Specialised Semiconductor Curricula
Introduced across engineering institutions

Overview

The Government of India has deployed a comprehensive, multi-layered strategy to build a globally competitive semiconductor talent pipeline under the Semicon India Programme and the newly approved Semicon 2.0 initiative, which carries a Union Cabinet-approved outlay of Rs. 1.27 lakh crore (US$ 13.56 billion). The strategy spans the entire semiconductor value chain — encompassing chip design, wafer fabrication, and Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) — with the objective of creating a self-sustaining ecosystem of skilled talent that can support both domestic semiconductor manufacturers and global companies establishing operations in India.

The Skilled Manpower Advanced Research and Training (SMART) Lab at NIELIT Calicut has emerged as a flagship training facility, having equipped more than 1 lakh (100,000) engineers with industry-relevant semiconductor skills. Simultaneously, the Chips to Startup (C2S) programme has trained approximately 68,000 professionals in semiconductor chip design, while providing engineering institutions with free access to advanced Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools — recording over 24 million hours of EDA usage across the academic and research ecosystem.

The programme has produced tangible research and innovation outcomes, with 175 chip designs successfully tape-out at the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali — validating the practical capabilities being developed within India’s engineering institutions and signalling the country’s growing readiness to participate meaningfully in global semiconductor design and development workflows.

🏛️ Semicon 2.0 — Union Cabinet Approved Programme

Programme Outlay

₹1.27 Lakh Crore

US$ 13.56 Billion

Approved By

Union Cabinet

Government of India

Focus Areas

Design, Fab, ATMP

Full value chain coverage

Semicon 2.0 builds on the foundation established by the original Semicon India Programme, expanding scope to cover a broader range of semiconductor manufacturing applications, deeper talent development initiatives and enhanced incentives for domestic and foreign semiconductor investments across the full value chain.

Key Talent Development Programmes

1 Lakh+ Engineers Trained

SMART Lab — NIELIT Calicut

The Skilled Manpower Advanced Research and Training (SMART) Lab at the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Calicut, serves as India’s premier semiconductor training facility. The lab provides hands-on, industry-aligned training in semiconductor design, testing and fabrication concepts, equipping over one lakh engineers with job-ready skills directly applicable to India’s growing semiconductor manufacturing industry.

~68,000 Professionals | 175 Tape-Outs

Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme

The Chips to Startup (C2S) programme has trained approximately 68,000 professionals in chip design while providing engineering institutions with free access to commercial-grade EDA tools — generating over 24 million hours of tool usage. The programme has enabled 175 successful chip tape-outs at the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali, creating a growing body of Indian engineers with real-world chip design experience and validating India’s emerging chip design capability.

AICTE Semiconductor Curricula

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has introduced specialised semiconductor engineering courses across affiliated institutions nationwide, aligning academic curricula with industry requirements. These programmes ensure that graduating engineers possess not only theoretical foundations in semiconductor physics and design but also practical competencies that meet the standards expected by domestic and international semiconductor employers.

ATMP Training Lab — NIELIT Guwahati

A state-of-the-art Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) training laboratory is being established at NIELIT Guwahati, targeting the development of skills in advanced semiconductor packaging — a critical segment of the semiconductor supply chain where India is aggressively building domestic capacity. ATMP capabilities are increasingly central to the global semiconductor industry’s value chain.

Strategic International Partnerships

India has established strategic collaborations with leading global semiconductor industry companies and premier academic institutions to accelerate workforce development, research capabilities and technology transfer:

Lam Research

World-leading semiconductor equipment manufacturer. Partnership focuses on training 60,000 professionals in nanofabrication and advanced process engineering over the next decade — representing one of the largest single commitments to semiconductor workforce development in India.

IBM

Collaboration with IBM focuses on advanced semiconductor research, AI-driven chip design innovation and workforce development programmes that connect Indian researchers and engineers with IBM’s global semiconductor and computing technology expertise.

NASSCOM

Industry body collaboration with NASSCOM focuses on workforce skilling frameworks, industry-academia linkage programmes and ensuring that the semiconductor talent pipeline aligns with the evolving needs of India’s technology and electronics manufacturing sector.

Purdue University

Collaboration with Purdue University — one of the United States’ leading engineering and semiconductor research institutions — focuses on joint research programmes, faculty exchange, internship opportunities and the development of advanced semiconductor curricula that align with global industry standards.

Arizona State University

Partnership with Arizona State University — home to one of the most comprehensive semiconductor engineering programmes in the US — enables joint research, student and faculty exchange, technology innovation collaborations and access to best-practice academic frameworks for building world-class semiconductor education ecosystems.

Expected Impact of the Semiconductor Talent Programme

  • Creation of a large-scale, industry-ready semiconductor workforce across design, fab and packaging
  • Strengthened chip design capabilities enabling Indian engineers to compete globally
  • Support for growth of semiconductor fabrication and ATMP facilities across India
  • Accelerated semiconductor research, innovation and startup development in India
  • Stronger academia-industry linkages producing graduates with direct semiconductor job readiness
  • Enhanced India attractiveness as a global semiconductor investment destination
  • High-skilled employment generation across semiconductor design centres and manufacturing facilities
  • Strengthened technological self-reliance and supply chain resilience in critical electronic components

Why This Development Matters

Semiconductors have become the defining strategic resource of the 21st century global economy. They underpin every sector of modern economic activity — from consumer electronics and automotive systems to telecommunications infrastructure, artificial intelligence computing, renewable energy management and national defence systems. A country that cannot design or manufacture semiconductors is not merely technologically dependent — it is strategically vulnerable in ways that have become acutely apparent through recent global chip supply disruptions.

For India, building a semiconductor talent pipeline is not merely a workforce development initiative — it is a prerequisite for the credibility of the country’s entire semiconductor manufacturing ambition. Fabrication plants, ATMP facilities and design centres are extraordinarily human-capital-intensive businesses. A semiconductor fab of meaningful scale requires thousands of highly trained engineers, technicians and scientists across dozens of specialised disciplines. Without a domestic supply of this talent, India cannot credibly host semiconductor manufacturing at scale regardless of how much financial incentive is offered.

The combination of the SMART Lab at NIELIT Calicut, the C2S programme’s 68,000 trained chip designers, 175 tape-outs at SCL Mohali, AICTE curriculum reform and the ATMP training facility at NIELIT Guwahati represents a coherent, multi-institutional approach to building this talent base — addressing not only the immediate demand from existing facilities but also the long-term supply requirements of the semiconductor ecosystem that Semicon India and Semicon 2.0 are designed to attract and develop.

💡 FinIntelHub Insight

Building the Human Foundation for India’s Semiconductor Century

India’s semiconductor strategy has evolved beyond offering financial incentives for manufacturing investment to address the more fundamental question of what makes a country genuinely competitive in this sector over the long term: human capital. The numbers — 100,000+ SMART Lab graduates, 68,000 C2S-trained chip designers, 175 tape-outs, 24 million EDA tool hours — reflect a serious, sustained investment in building the talent base without which the Rs. 1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 outlay cannot deliver its full promise.

The Lam Research partnership’s commitment to train 60,000 professionals in nanofabrication over the next decade is particularly significant. Nanofabrication skills are among the scarcest and most specialised in the global semiconductor industry — countries that possess concentrations of nanofabrication expertise hold genuine competitive advantages in advanced chip manufacturing. By securing a decade-long commitment from a world-leading equipment manufacturer to develop this specific skillset domestically, India is investing in precisely the talent category that will determine whether its semiconductor ambitions extend beyond assembly and packaging into advanced node manufacturing.

The collaborations with Purdue University and Arizona State University add a crucial research dimension. Both institutions have deep expertise in semiconductor engineering education and research, and their engagement with India’s academic institutions creates pathways for knowledge transfer, research co-development and the calibration of Indian academic standards to global benchmarks. As India’s semiconductor ecosystem matures, the quality of its academic-industry research pipeline will increasingly determine its ability to move up the value chain from contract manufacturing to proprietary chip design and intellectual property creation.

Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India. Information pertains to the Semicon India Programme, Semicon 2.0 (Union Cabinet approved outlay Rs. 1.27 lakh crore), the SMART Lab at NIELIT Calicut, the Chips to Startup (C2S) programme, SCL Mohali tape-outs, AICTE semiconductor curricula, NIELIT Guwahati ATMP lab and international partnerships with Lam Research, NASSCOM, IBM, Purdue University and Arizona State University.

Disclaimer: This article is based on secondary research from official and publicly available sources. While FinIntelHub strives for accuracy, it does not guarantee the completeness or accuracy of the information.

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