According to official sources, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is finalizing a timeline for the commercial production of semiconductor wafers and chips from government-approved projects, as it sharpens its focus on execution. According to a senior ministry official, the first project expected to commence production is Micron's $2.7 billion chip testing and packaging plant, with plans to roll out the first commercial 'made-in-India' chips by mid-2025, likely around August 15. Micron’s ATMP/OSAT (assembly, testing, marking, and packing/outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing) facility in Sanand, Gujarat, was the first semiconductor project approved under the government’s Rs 76,000 crore Semicon India scheme in January 2023. Initially, the facility was anticipated to begin chip production by December 2024.

According to the official, Tata Group's Tata Electronics, which has pledged Rs 91,000 crore to establish India’s first semiconductor fabrication facility, approved in February 2024, will take approximately three and a half years to begin wafer production at the Dholera site in Gujarat. Its ATMP plant in Jagiroad, Assam, a Rs 27,000 crore project, is expected to start producing chips by the end of next year. Meanwhile, Mysuru-based Kaynes Technology aims to begin commercial production by early FY26, following government approval for its testing and packaging plant.

CG Power, part of the Murugappa Group, is also establishing a testing and packaging unit in Sanand with an investment of Rs 7,600 crore and has publicly stated plans to begin production within two and a half to three years. The senior MeitY official further discussed plans for a second edition of the semiconductor scheme, as the Rs 76,000 crore allocated for incentives has nearly been exhausted due to clearances for previously announced projects. Under the current scheme, fabrication plants and OSAT/ATMP projects receive incentives covering 50% of the plant's setup costs.

“Discussions are ongoing with stakeholders, and drafts have been made. Finalization of the 2.0 semiconductor scheme will take around six months”, the official said. He added that the primary focus remains on executing the existing projects and incentivizing efforts to build a semiconductor supply chain ecosystem, crucial for the success of India’s semiconductor mission. “We haven’t frozen the modalities or the size of the new proposed scheme yet”, he noted, also mentioning that reviving SCL (Semi-Conductor Laboratory) in Chandigarh is another priority. According to the participants of a stakeholder meeting with the government, the industry has urged the government to incentivize companies to set up supply chains within India for semiconductor manufacturing. “We have requested the government to provide incentives for companies involved in materials, machines, equipment, and spare parts manufacturing critical for the semiconductor industry. The government has been positive to this”, said a CEO of one of the companies with a government-approved project.

There have been discussions about reducing the 50% incentive for OSAT/ATMP projects to 20-25% in the future, given the sector's growing momentum with four projects already in progress. A major joint venture between Foxconn and the HCL Group is still pending approval from the India Semiconductor Mission. Another significant project, a collaboration between the Adani Group and Israeli fab company Tower Semiconductor, is awaiting clearance after receiving approval from the Maharashtra government. The two have committed Rs 83,947 crore to the initiative. If all these projects come to fruition, total investments in India's semiconductor sector could surpass $30 billion (around Rs 2.5 trillion).