The danger of AI is not that it will become conscious and hate us, but that it will become competent and ignore us."
—Eliezer Yudkowsky
India’s semiconductor push has reached commercial production, while Modi highlighted the next phase, skilling, ecosystem expansion across design, equipment, materials and testing, and investments in power to meet rising AI demand.
USIBC President Atul Keshap says semiconductors are central to the next phase of US-India technology cooperation, spanning trusted supply chains, critical minerals and advanced electronics.
The new framework covers six pillars and 10 categories across chip design, fabs, packaging, equipment, materials and talent, with India targeting one lakh semiconductor design engineers over five years.
India’s Union Cabinet has approved Semicon 2.0 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore ($13.23 billion), expanding beyond ISM 1.0’s fab-first approach to fund chip design, advanced packaging, materials, equipment manufacturing and R&D across the semiconductor value chain.
A key supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips for NVIDIA’s AI accelerators, SK hynix plans to use the proceeds primarily for new semiconductor production facilities and advanced manufacturing equipment in South Korea as it expands its AI infrastructure capabilities.
Indium phosphide, a compound semiconductor made from indium and phosphorus, has become a critical enabler of the optical chips that move data inside AI data centres.
MEXT’s AI-powered predictive memory technology is designed to make flash storage behave more like DRAM, addressing a growing challenge in modern data center infrastructure.
Trade ministers from South Korea and Qatar agreed to expand cooperation in manufacturing AI, semiconductors, and biohealth, with talks covering the M.AX Alliance, robotics, and AI chipmakers, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said.
India PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Kaynes Semicon plant in Gujarat’s Sanand on March 31, 2026, signalling the start of commercial production at the country’s second semiconductor facility under the India Semiconductor Mission. The unit will manufacture advanced power modules and strengthen India’s domestic chip packaging capabilities.
