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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday used his 79th Independence Day address from the Red Fort to underline India’s renewed focus on semiconductor manufacturing, while pointing to decades of missed opportunities in the sector.“When we talk about different dimensions of technology, I want to draw your attention. Let me take semiconductors as an example… files related to semiconductors started moving 50–60 years ago… but the idea was stalled, delayed, and blocked,” PM Modi said at Red Fort.“The very idea of semiconductors was aborted before it could take shape. Today, decades later, many countries have mastered semiconductors and established their strength in the world”, he said.The Prime Minister said his government had “freed ourselves from this burden” and was advancing semiconductor work “in mission mode.” He announced that “six different semiconductor units are coming up on the ground” and that “four new units have already been given the green signal.”Significantly, he declared, “by the end of this very year, a Made in India chip, built in India by the people of India, will arrive in the market.” The remarks come days after the Union Cabinet approved four new semiconductor projects under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), with total investments of around Rs 4,600 crore.These include facilities in Odisha, Punjab, and Andhra Pradesh, covering compound fabrication, advanced glass substrate packaging, and high-power discrete component manufacturing.With these approvals, India now has 10 ISM-sanctioned projects worth nearly Rs 1.60 lakh crore across six states. The government says these facilities will boost domestic chip design capabilities, meet growing demand in telecom, automotive, data centres, defence, and consumer electronics, and create over 2,000 skilled jobs directly, alongside indirect employment in the electronics manufacturing sector.PM Modi linked the semiconductor drive to the broader vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047, telling young Indians that self-reliance in critical technologies was key to true independence.
