Skilling and Diversity Takes Centre Stage in India’s Semiconductor Landscape

India’s semiconductor workforce is expanding rapidly, with a focus on gender diversity, skilling, and readiness for global talent demand.

India’s semiconductor industry is undergoing a change driven by surging demand, foreign investment, and central government-backed capacity-building initiatives. With the global semiconductor market set to cross US$1 trillion by 2030, India is positioning itself not only as a key design hub but also as an important player in manufacturing and advanced packaging. This transition has sharpened the focus on workforce development, skill alignment, and gender diversity.

The country’s semiconductor workforce currently includes approximately 220,000 professionals, with plans to add 1 million new jobs by 2026. A mix of private sector skilling programs, academic integration, and public policy efforts are central to meeting this target. However, challenges persist, particularly in aligning engineering education with industrial demands and attracting talent to the manufacturing side of the value chain.

Aligning workforce segment with semiconductor industry

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Workforce demands in India’s semiconductor sector span across a variety of technical roles, each requiring specific qualifications and training pathways. Design and development positions typically require advanced degrees in fields such as VLSI design or semiconductor technology. These roles offer competitive compensation, with multinational corporations offering packages that can reach up to INR 8 million (US$93,710.4) annually for experienced hires.

Critical processes under semiconductor manufacturing, such as assembly, testing, marking, and packaging (ATMP) roles, involve skills in outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT), VLSI packaging, and photolithography.

Foundry operations, a core operation of semiconductor fabrication, call for process engineers, equipment engineers, and quality assurance professionals, each requiring specialized hands-on training in cleanroom and fab environments.

At the technician level, diploma holders with targeted training in semiconductor processing are essential to supporting day-to-day manufacturing activities. 

Gender diversity and workforce inclusion

India’s semiconductor industry is making gradual but tangible progress in improving gender diversity. According to recent media reports, as of 2025, women in India represent 25 percent of the sector’s workforce, with expectations to reach 35 percent by 2030. In chip design roles, the current male-to-female ratio stands at 70:30, while in ATMP roles, it is around 80:20. Manufacturing roles tend to show higher male dominance, especially in core fab roles.

Industry initiatives by manufacturing giants like Micron, Foxconn, and NXP are actively expanding women’s participation in the production process. Micron has reported 28 percent women employees across functions, and Foxconn has invested US$230 million to develop housing for up to 18,720 female workers in its facility in Tamil Nadu. Programs such as NXP’s ‘Women in Tech’ initiative have trained over 100 female engineering students in VLSI design concepts.

Read more: India’s Semiconductor Market Value to Reach US$108 Billion by 2030: Report

Skilling challenges and academic readiness

India produces approximately 600,000 engineering graduates each year in electronics-related fields. Despite this large output, only a small fraction are currently considered job-ready for the semiconductor industry, particularly for fabrication-specific roles. According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), about one percent, or 6,000 graduates annually, are equipped to contribute to fab operations without further specialized training.

To address these capability gaps, multiple national-level initiatives have been launched in the country. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) introduced a curriculum tailored to semiconductor industry needs and building sector-specific foundational skills.

The Chips to Startup (C2S) program, launched in 2021, seeks to train 85,000 engineers across 113 institutions in VLSI and embedded system design by 2027. According to the central government, over 43,000 students have been enrolled. In addition, the Skilled Manpower Advanced Research and Training (SMART) Lab at NIELIT Calicut, Kerala, established in 2022, targets the training of 100,000 engineers nationwide within five years and has so far trained over 42,000.

These initiatives collectively support the development of a specialized semiconductor workforce. They also align with broader policy goals to enhance educational quality and industry relevance. In parallel, the manufacturing sector has shown signs of improved retention, with the average attrition rate falling to 10.6 percent in 2024 from 12.1 percent in the previous year. This may support workforce continuity in technical roles that involve intensive training and domain knowledge, particularly in fabrication and ATMP operations.

Industry-academic collaboration and global positioning

According to John Neuffer, CEO of the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), 20 percent of the global semiconductor workforce is already based in India. India’s strengths in chip design, supported by a strong academic pipeline and R&D focus, are widely recognized.

Some of the leading players in India’s semiconductor industry are as follows:

• Tata Electronics & PSMC Fab in Dholera, Gujarat: US$11 billion investment for a 28nm fab with a capacity of 50,000 wafers/month;
• Micron Technology ATMP in Sanand, Gujarat: US$2.75 billion investment for Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and NAND chip packaging;
• Tata Semiconductor Assembly and Test (TSAT) in Morigaon, Assam: US$3.6 billion investment targeting 48 million chips/day, with over 15,000 direct and 13,000 indirect jobs expected;
• CG Power, Renesas, and Stars Microelectronics JV in Gujarat: US$900 million project focusing on packaging for automotive, industrial, and power electronics; and
• Simmtech in Gujarat: New chip component facility, announced alongside Micron, with detailed investment and employment figures forthcoming.

These projects are set to create tens of thousands of jobs, further accelerating India’s workforce growth. For instance, the Dholera fab alone is expected to generate over 20,000 skilled positions, while the TSAT plant is a major employment driver in Northeast India.

In brief

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India’s semiconductor workforce landscape is evolving rapidly, with progress in gender diversity, skilling, and international collaboration. As manufacturing ramps up alongside design, workforce development will remain a strategic pillar. With robust initiatives like C2S and increased participation from global stakeholders, India has the potential to become a global semiconductor talent hub.

(US$1 = INR 85.37)

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