India’s 3D packaging push

Semiconductor packaging is the step that turns a finished chip into something a server, radar, or phone can actually use. India just laid the foundation for its first advanced 3D packaging unit in Bhubaneswar. (pib.gov.in) (business-standard.com) On April 19, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw broke ground for the project at Info Valley. The unit is being set up by Heterogeneous Integration Packaging Solutions, backed by US-based 3D Glass Solutions. (pib.gov.in) (business-standard.com) The planned investment is about ₹1,943 crore, or roughly ₹2,000 crore in government statements. Once operational, the plant is expected to make 70,000 glass panels a year, 50 million assembled units, and about 13,000 advanced 3D heterogeneous integration modules. (business-standard.com) (pib.gov.in) Three-dimensional packaging stacks and links chip parts more tightly, like building upward instead of spreading components across a wider board. The Bhubaneswar plant is centered on glass substrates, which 3D Glass Solutions says can deliver dense connections and low signal loss for radio-frequency and high-speed computing uses. (business-standard.com) That matters because advanced packaging has become a choke point in modern chips, especially for artificial intelligence, defence electronics, telecommunications, and high-performance computing. India has pushed to build domestic semiconductor capacity, but much of the attention until now has gone to fabrication and assembly plants rather than high-end packaging. (pib.gov.in) (news18.com) The Bhubaneswar project is one of four semiconductor proposals approved under the India Semiconductor Mission in August 2025. Odisha officials also say the state is the only one hosting both India’s first compound semiconductor fabrication unit and its first 3D glass substrate packaging facility. (business-standard.com) (pib.gov.in) Demand appears to be arriving early. News18 reported that officials said production bookings were already in place before construction started, an unusual signal in a sector where projects often spend years lining up customers. (news18.com) The company and government are pitching the site as a supply point for both Indian and overseas customers. Business Standard reported that 3D Glass Solutions CEO Babu Mandava said the Odisha facility would target domestic and global markets and build large glass substrates at scale. (business-standard.com) Commercial production is expected by 2028, according to News18. For India, the test is no longer just whether it can announce chip projects, but whether Bhubaneswar can turn advanced packaging from a policy goal into shipped hardware. (news18.com)