India pushes up the stack
India is accelerating a push from chip design through packaging while also signaling 6G ambitions—policymakers and industry are aligning on IP development, global standards engagement, and ‘Make in India’ scale‑up. Officials are also running a 5G innovation hackathon to seed next‑gen telecom solutions. (x.com) (telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com) (newkerala.com)
India Semiconductor Mission announced an ISM 2.0 roadmap prioritizing semiconductor equipment and materials, development of full‑stack Indian design IP, and resilient supply‑chains as the next phase of the program. (ism.gov.in)) Prime Minister Narendra Modi was shown the first set of chips produced from an India pilot fab on Sept. 2, 2025, and the event coincided with 12 new MoUs covering design, packaging and talent development. (government.economictimes.indiatimes.com)) At the ETTelecom 5G Congress, panelists including RK Upadhyay (C‑DoT), Pamela Kumar (FSID‑IISC), AK Tiwari (Reliance Jio), Julian Gorman (GSMA), SP Kochhar (COAI) and Bharat Bhatia (ITU‑APT Foundation of India) explicitly called for building India‑owned IP and scaling sustained participation in global standards bodies. (telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com)) The Department of Telecommunications has launched the 5G Innovation Hackathon 2026 with access to 100 university 5G labs, a prize pool of over Rs 10 lakh and an application window that required submissions by April 17, 2026. (eservices.dot.gov.in)) Government releases note India has set up specialized testbeds — a 6G THz testbed and an advanced optical communications testbed — and hosted an International 6G Symposium alongside WTSA and India Mobile Congress to deepen global R&D ties and MoUs with 6G alliances. (opengovasia.com)) Policy instruments on the ground show ten ISM‑approved projects, emerging OSAT (assembly, test and packaging) investments and state incentives such as Uttar Pradesh’s semiconductor policy aimed at attracting large‑scale fabs and advanced packaging units. (india-briefing.com))
