9AUGUST 2025INDIA'S SEMICONDUCTOR DEMAND SET TO DOUBLE BY 2030 AMID AI SURGEINDIAN GIANTS EYE NPCIL TIE-UP TO DRIVE NUCLEAR ENERGY GROWTHIndia's semiconductor industry is at the threshold of a turning point. The end-user requirements are poised to double from USD 54 billion in 2025 to over USD 108 billion by 2030, propelled by AI, EVs, telecom, IoT, and more.The urgency for India to increase domestic chip manufacturing is clear from a recently published UBS report, The Indian government's ambitious bid to hire Bharat Small Reactors (BSRs) to de-pollute high-emitting industries has generated keen interest among the nation's top private sector players, with investment likely to cross Rs 35,000 crore, government officials informed Moneycontrol.Firms such as Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Tata Group, Hindalco (part of the Aditya Birla Group), Vedanta, and which notes that the country imports approximately 90% of its semiconductor needs.India's semiconductor industry boasts 20% of the global chip design workforce but only a measly 0.1% of global wafer manufacturing. Fortunately, the situation is changing quickly. India is preparing to become a global chip player, with the full backing of a USD 10 billion government incentive through India's Semiconductor Mission.Some major projects, such as Tata Group's semiconductor fab in Assam, the HCL - Foxconn OSAT plant in Uttar Pradesh, and Micron's ATMP unit in Gujarat, are expected to be operational by mid-2025. India is on the right path to increase domestic availability of mature-node chips and advanced packaging capacity for semiconductor industry while employing thousands of new workers.The government is also investing heavily in talent pipelines, with the Chips-to-Startup (C2S) and Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) schemes empowering over 270 institutions and enabling the development of 20 indigenous chipsets by Indian engineers.While challenges like capital intensity, skill gaps, and advanced node limitations persist, India's semiconductor future looks stronger than ever, aligning national manufacturing goals with rising global tech demand. JSW Group have withdrawn their tenders, which were being held by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). The bid submission deadline was also extended to September 30 from the initial June 30 to give stakeholders more time to review project information.Each project will be assigned on a twin-unit configuration, with two 220 MW compact pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) in each. One twin unit will be Rs 6,0007,000 crore. NPCIL aims to construct 12 to 14 reactors (six to seven twin units) with potential private investment of Rs 35,00050,000 crore.The private sector shortlisted entities will bear the whole lifecycle cost -- from initial capital investment to decommissioning -- and, in return, receive long-term electricity access from the BSRs for captive usage by industry. NPCIL will maintain operational control of the reactors.The scheme is part of India's overall plan to increase nuclear capacity to 8.7 GW to 22.48 GW in 2031-32 with a vision of 100 GW by 2047. This is consistent with the National Nuclear Energy Mission, as commitments in the Union Budget, with a Rs 20,000 crore budget to speed up the induction of small modular reactors for hard-to-abate industries such as steel and aluminium to facilitate India's 2070 net-zero commitment.
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