Modi to Open Semicon India 2026 as 500+ Exhibitors Descend on Delhi's Chip Ecosystem Showcase

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Semicon India 2026 on September 17, organisers SEMI and the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) confirmed on August 18, 2026, setting up the fifth edition of the country's flagship semiconductor conference as the biggest yet — more than 500 exhibitors, over 290 international companies and delegations from upward of 40 countries are expected at Yashobhoomi, the India International Convention and Expo Centre in Dwarka, New Delhi.

What's Scheduled

The three-day event, running September 17-19 under the theme "Transform Tomorrow: Silicon to Systems — Building the Ecosystem," is jointly organised by SEMI, the global semiconductor industry association, and the ISM, working under India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Confirmed participants span the length of the chip supply chain: equipment makers ASML, Applied Materials, Lam Research and Tokyo Electron; chipmakers Micron and NXP; IBM Research; and Tata Electronics, India's own emerging foundry and packaging player. The programme is expected to combine an exhibition floor, technical conference tracks and government-industry sessions covering everything from fabrication and packaging to design, materials and equipment.

Why This Edition Is Bigger

Semicon India has grown each year alongside the government's own semiconductor push, but the 2026 edition lands at a different moment for the industry than previous ones. Three plants approved under the original India Semiconductor Mission — Micron's assembly-and-test facility in Sanand, Gujarat; Kaynes Semicon's plant, also in Gujarat; and CG Power's joint venture with Renesas and Stars Microelectronics — have all begun commercial production over the past six months, giving India actual output to point to rather than only announced investment. That shift, from groundbreaking ceremonies to running lines, is likely to shape the tone of this year's conference: less about convincing global firms that India's chip ambitions are credible, more about showing them working fabs.

The event also follows the July 2026 approval of Semicon 2.0, the next phase of India's chip incentive programme, which carries an outlay of roughly ₹1.27 lakh crore (about $13.2 billion) spanning design, fabrication, display manufacturing, advanced packaging, equipment, speciality materials and talent development. Semicon 2.0 marks a deliberate shift in approach: rather than one-time capital grants for new fabs, as under the original Semicon India programme, the new phase is structured around milestone-linked funding and equity stakes the government will take in semiconductor startups — a model organisers are expected to showcase and explain to prospective investors at the September event.

The Bigger Picture for India's Chip Ambitions

India's semiconductor mission has moved through roughly five years of buildout since ISM's 2021 launch, and Semicon India has functioned each year as something of a scorecard — a venue where the mission's progress against its own targets gets tested in front of the global industry it's trying to attract. This year's expanded exhibitor list and the presence of equipment heavyweights like ASML and Applied Materials — companies whose tools sit upstream of fabrication and whose commitments signal confidence in a market's long-term manufacturing base, not just its assembly-and-test capacity — will be read as one indicator of whether India is beginning to move beyond packaging and into more capital-intensive, higher-value segments of the chip supply chain.

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said India aims to be among the world's top four semiconductor manufacturing nations by 2035, a goal that depends on sustaining exactly the kind of capital commitments a successful Semicon India is meant to help attract. With commercial chip output now underway at three sites and a larger, equity-based funding programme freshly approved, the September gathering is shaping up as a test of whether India's semiconductor pitch is starting to convert interest into deeper manufacturing investment, not just marquee visits.

Sources

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