New Delhi, March 13 -- India is set to announce a Rs.1 lakh crore fund to accelerate its domestic chipmaking industry, a move aimed at both making the country an indispensable part of the global electronics supply chain and building self-reliance. HT learns that the IT ministry has sought in excess of Rs.1 lakh crore for the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission, or ISM 2.0. People familiar with the matter said that an announcement on ISM 2.0 could come by end-April. The first phase of the mission was a Rs.76,000 crore incentive scheme that attracted investments of about Rs.1.6 lakh crore. Under this, till December last year, 10 projects were approved, with four expected to begin chip production this year, across six states under the first phase. These include silicon fabrication units, silicon carbide fabs, advanced and memory packaging facilities, and specialised assembly and testing infrastructure. "Phase 2 will involve additional fresh funding, as the funds allocated under the first phase have already been committed to approved projects. The Rs.76,000 crore outlay will be disbursed as these projects are implemented," said a senior IT ministry official, requesting anonymity. ISM 2.0 is expected to place greater emphasis on strengthening India's semiconductor design ecosystem, developing critical equipment and materials used in chip manufacturing, and building end-to-end Indian intellectual property (IP)across the semiconductor value chain. It will also focus on securing supply chains and creating a long-term roadmap for India to move towards advanced chip technologies such as 3-nanometre and 2-nanometre nodes. India's semiconductor manufacturing capabilities are currently limited to 180-nanometre (nm) chips, produced at the government-run Semiconductor Laboratory in Mohali. These chips are typically used in sectors such as defence, space and industrial electronics. The new projects announced under ISM 1.0, including the fabrication plant being set up by Tata Electronics in partnership with Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation in Gujarat, aim to manufacture more advanced 28-nm chips, Globally, leading chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung Electronics are already producing chips at 3-nm nodes, highlighting the gap India is aiming to bridge through initiatives like the ISM. The government also aims to attract global semiconductor firms under ISM 2.0, as part of its broader goal of building Indian chip design companies that can eventually rival global leaders such as Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm, a vision articulated recently by IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. "For semiconductor industry, for semiconductor startups, the comprehensive support in the semiconductor mission is very unique. And we intend to double down on this. We intend to scale up this, and in the next version of our semiconductor mission, we plan to get at least 50 fabless companies. And out of these, we'll get one AMD developing out of our country, one Qualcomm developing out of our country. That will be the journey in the next few years and I am sure we will succeed in that journey," said Vaishnaw on January 27, 2026 at a semiconductor chip design startup event in New Delhi....