Dholera gets $11B chip fab
- India notified a special economic zone in Dholera for Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing’s ₹91,000 crore chip fab, the country’s first semiconductor fabrication plant. - The Dholera fab spans 66.16 hectares, targets about 21,000 jobs, and follows Tata’s 2024 plan to build a 50,000-wafer-per-month plant. - The project links India’s chip push with Tata’s expanding Apple manufacturing role after its Wistron and Pegatron deals. (tataelectronics.com)
India has cleared a special economic zone in Dholera, Gujarat, for Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing’s ₹91,000 crore chip fab, India’s first semiconductor fabrication plant. (news18.com) (economictimes.indiatimes.com) The Department of Commerce notified the zone on April 9, 2026, and officials said the facility will cover 66.16 hectares and support about 21,000 jobs. (financialexpress.com) (news18.com) This is not a new mystery “Apple fab.” Tata announced the Dholera project on February 29, 2024, with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation providing technology and execution support. (tata.com) (pib.gov.in) The plant is designed as a 300-millimeter wafer fab with capacity of up to 50,000 wafers a month. Tata said it will make chips such as power-management integrated circuits, display drivers, microcontrollers, and high-performance computing logic. (tata.com) (tataelectronics.com) India’s role in Apple’s supply chain is part of the backdrop, but the Dholera project itself is a foundry investment aimed at a wider chip market, including automotive, communications, computing, and artificial intelligence. (tata.com) (pib.gov.in) The Apple connection runs through Tata Electronics, which bought Wistron’s India operations in March 2024 and then took a 60% stake in Pegatron Technology India in January 2025. Those deals made Tata a far bigger iPhone manufacturing partner in India. (tataelectronics.com) (fortuneindia.com) The timing also reflects a policy change. India cut the minimum land requirement for semiconductor and electronics-component special economic zones from 50 hectares to 10 hectares in June 2025, and officials say five such zones have now been notified. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) (financialexpress.com) The fiscal support was formalized earlier, too. On March 5, 2025, the India Semiconductor Mission, Tata Electronics, and Tata Semiconductor Manufacturing signed a fiscal support agreement for the Dholera fab, with the government committing 50% support for eligible project costs. (pib.gov.in) So the news in April 2026 is narrower than the social-media version suggests: the government has now given the Dholera fab its special economic zone, while Tata’s broader electronics push keeps tying India closer to both chipmaking and Apple assembly. (financialexpress.com) (tata.com)
