Micron Sanand goes live: India's first commercial semiconductor production begins

India crossed a historic threshold this month as Micron Technology commenced operations at its Assembly, Test, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) facility in Sanand, Gujarat — the country's first commercial semiconductor production line.

From Design Powerhouse to Manufacturing Floor

India has long been a major player in chip design. Over 20% of the world's semiconductor engineers are Indian, and companies like Qualcomm, Intel, and Texas Instruments have maintained large design centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Chennai for decades. What India has never had is a factory that produces finished, packaged chips at commercial scale. The Sanand ATMP facility changes that.

The facility will initially focus on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) — a critical component for advanced AI computing that is in acute global demand. HBM is used in NVIDIA's H100 and Blackwell GPUs, in data centre accelerators, and increasingly in edge AI devices. By targeting HBM, Micron is positioning the Sanand plant at the intersection of two strategic priorities: India's semiconductor ambitions and the global AI infrastructure buildout.

ISM 2.0: From MoUs to Milestones

The Union Budget, presented on February 1, formalized India Semiconductor Mission 2.0. Building on ISM 1.0 — which was criticised for producing announcements rather than silicon — the new phase introduces several structural changes:

• Production-linked incentives: Disbursals are now tied to measurable milestones — commissioning timelines, yield targets, and local supply commitments — rather than investment intent.
• Indigenous equipment push: ISM 2.0 explicitly targets domestic manufacturing of semiconductor equipment, chemicals, gases, and materials.
• Full-stack IP development: The mission aims to move India beyond packaging into design verification, process development, and ultimately foundry capability.
• Industry-led training centres: New partnerships between ISM and universities will create semiconductor-specific curricula.

The $63 Billion Question

India's semiconductor market is projected to reach $63 billion by 2026. The country currently imports nearly all of its chips — a strategic vulnerability that the pandemic and the US-China technology cold war have made viscerally clear. Whether Sanand becomes the first domino in a larger manufacturing ecosystem, or remains an isolated success story, depends on execution: supply chain depth, talent pipelines, and the willingness of global foundries to invest in Indian operations beyond packaging.

For now, the first wafer has been tested. India is, at last, a chip-producing nation.