India's competitive advantage uniquely positions it in global semicon story: Ashwini Vaishnaw

The $750 billion global semiconductor industry is set to double in size in the next 6-7 years, and India is uniquely positioned to take advantage of it, Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of electronics & IT, telecom, and railways, said at Business Standard Manthan on Wednesday.

What is working in favour of India is an abundant workforce, access to green energy and a growing chemical manufacturing ecosystem, he said during a fireside chat at the event.

"A $1 trillion industry will require more than nine lakh talented professionals. Close to a third of all talent in the semiconductor industry is in India. From conceptualising a new chip to designing and validating it, and ensuring it is ready-to-fab, that entire value chain is in India," the union minister said.

"We have also taken big strides in having clean energy. For our level of per capita income, the world is amazed that we have close to 42 per cent of our power generation capacity in the green power. We have one of the largest chemical manufacturing ecosystems in the world in Dahej, Gujarat. There are very few countries with these kinds of competitive advantages," he said.

The minister stressed India's ambitions are backed by support from global industry.

"I have met top executives from 45 different global semiconductor companies. Each one of them said the natural next destination will be India. They said given the challenges in the rest of the world, a move towards India is inevitable," he said.

When asked about critics suggesting India should prioritise services over imitating other South East Asian economies and build manufacturing capabilities, Vaishnaw emphasised that given India's size, it is never a question of 'either-or' but what all can be done.