NamasteIndia Chip Race Smarter Entry.
Dr. Anju Sharma |MrsSustainability
India didn’t start with fabs.
And that wasn’t a delay.
It was a decision.
Coz entering semiconductors at the top means:
?$15–30B per fab
?Years of yield instability
?High failure probability
So India did something different.
👉 WHAT it did:
Launched ISM with ~$10B incentives, anchoring investments across OSAT, ATMP, and a first fab pipeline
👉 HOW it did it:
Built Sanand–Dholera clusters, partnered global players, and prioritized backend + ecosystem over headline fabs
👉 WHY it matters:
Because semiconductors aren’t won at the top.
They are sustained at the bottom.
The world’s most advanced fabs TSMC, Samsung Electronics don’t run on silicon alone.
They run on chemistry:
✓Etching gases: NF₃, CF₄, SF₆
✓Cleaning systems: H₂SO₄, H₂O₂, NH₄OH
✓Photoresists & solvents: PGMEA, IPA
✓CMP slurries: colloidal silica, ceria
At this level, purity is not quality.
It’s survival.
A tiny impurity can drop yields by 10–30%—destroying millions in wafer value.
Here’s the part most miss:
$Fabs are visible.
¢Chemistry is decisive.
Now the strategy becomes clear.
Instead of jumping into fabs where yield takes years to stabilize India is building the layers that keep fabs running.
Coz in semiconductors:
No etch gas → no pattern
No photoresist → no circuit
No slurry → no precision
👉 No chemistry → no yield
👉 No yield → no EBITDA
👉 No EBITDA → no fab
Now the opportunity.
India already has:
✓A $200B+ chemical industry
✓Fluorochemical capabilities (critical for etching & cleaning)
✓Process engineering depth
Yet semiconductor-grade materials remain dominated by Japan (~50%+ share in key segments).
👉 That gap is not a weakness.
It’s the entry point.
Fabs chase scale.
Chemistry builds dependence.
That’s the shift.
If India gets this right:
It integrates into global supply chains immediately
It builds revenue before fabs mature
It becomes part of what fabs cannot operate without
A compounding loop:
Fabs need inputs → India supplies
India supplies → capability deepens
Capability deepens → dependence builds
Once dependence builds…
Fabs don’t just get built in India.
They become inevitable in India.
Silicon powers the chip.
Chemistry decides who profits from it.” Dr. Anju Sharma
⚡ KtalystKlues
✔ Chips are engineered
✔ Yields are chemically controlled
➡ Build fabs → you compete
➡ Enable fabs → you compound
So maybe the real question isn’t:
Can India build fabs?
It’s this:
Can India become too critical to ignore before it does?
KtalystInsights KtalystKlues MrsSustainability
Originally published on LinkedIn on 2026-03-24 03:59:56: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn%3Ali%3AgroupPost%3A14627700-7442057588814409729
