India should aspire to be among early leaders in emerging technologies: PM Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said India should aspire to be among the early leaders in emerging technologies and emphasised the need for close collaboration between the government and the semiconductor industry to shape the country's technology future.
Addressing a semiconductor roundtable with leading CEOs here, Modi said the government was committed to providing a predictable and responsive policy environment, while policies must evolve in line with technological advancements and industry requirements, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.
He highlighted India's strong foundation in talent, technology adoption and infrastructure and called for greater participation by the industry in skilling, innovation and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.
Modi noted the significant progress made in the semiconductor sector and said the ecosystem was moving from foundational efforts to a phase of greater scale and opportunity.
He invited industry leaders to share suggestions on policy and administrative measures and assured them that their inputs would be given due consideration in further strengthening the sector.
The prime minister also encouraged industry leaders to actively participate in the next phase of India's semiconductor growth.
The CEOs appreciated the government's efforts to develop India's semiconductor capabilities and highlighted progress in manufacturing, design, infrastructure and talent development.
They expressed confidence in the opportunities emerging under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0 and in India's potential to build capabilities across the semiconductor value chain, including manufacturing, research and development (R&D), advanced technologies and supporting industries.
Referring to the government's target of training one crore people in AI, Modi said India's talent pool, combined with the experience and capabilities of global industry leaders, could create significant opportunities.
The CEOs said the progress achieved in recent years had created a strong foundation for greater industry participation and expressed their commitment to contributing to India's emergence as a globally competitive semiconductor and technology hub.
The meeting was attended by CEOs, heads and representatives of several organisations, including SEMI, Micron, Infineon, Applied Materials, ASML, Merck, Tokyo Electron Limited, FujiFilm, AMD, Intel, Tata Electronics, Lam Research, Rapidus, NXP, Foxconn, Semiconductor Devices, Advantest, Celesta Capital, CG Power and IBM Research.