Speaking at SEMICON India 2026, Infosys Senior Vice President Vikram Meghal described a transformative phase for India's semiconductor industry, driven by booming AI workloads, geopolitical challenges, and new chip design paradigms that prioritize system-level scaling over traditional Moore's Law gains.
- AI-driven chip demand to fuel trillion-dollar compute spend.
- India to triple engineering R&D and deepen local manufacturing.
- Shift needed from engineering to inventing to capture innovation value.
What happened
At SEMICON India 2026, Vikram Meghal, Senior Vice President at Infosys, emphasized that India faces a unique semiconductor demand window driven by multiple converging global factors. Among these, artificial intelligence is a key catalyst, with data center spending projected to hit USD 6.7 trillion in the near future, half of which will target compute, memory, and networking chips. AI workloads are reshaping chip design dynamics, making the workload the primary driver rather than chips dictating workload capabilities.
Meghal highlighted three stages of India’s semiconductor journey: the current 'Made for India' phase focusing on localizing manufacturing, the 'Engineered in India' phase where engineering R&D expands significantly, and the critical next step 'Invent in India,' which emphasizes the creation of indigenous innovation, particularly in custom and application-specific silicon.
Why it matters
This period offers India an unprecedented opportunity to transform from primarily a manufacturing and engineering hub to an innovation powerhouse in the semiconductor space. Currently, domestic content in mobile phones stands at only 23%, but the market is expected to expand multifold in the coming years, indicating vast potential for localisation and value capture.
Scaling up from engineering to inventing allows India to capture higher-value segments of the global chip market, particularly as companies seek custom silicon tailored to specific AI and computing needs. This strategic evolution aims to leverage decades of ecosystem investment and position India strongly in the emerging global technology landscape.
What to watch next
Industry observers should monitor India’s investments in developing homegrown product innovation capabilities and regulatory frameworks that support ownership of the complete technology stack, from system design to silicon manufacturing. Building 'strategic patience' and a long-term product mindset will be crucial for success in this high-stakes, fast-evolving industry.
The pace and scale of expansion in India’s engineering R&D spending, localization progress in semiconductor manufacturing, and emergence of startups or companies pioneering custom chip designs will be key indicators of India’s progress on this ambitious path from 'Engineered in India' to 'Invent in India.'