While a 28-90nm chip might not make headlines in Silicon Valley, California, in India, it just made history!
At the end of 2023, we posted about India’s own Aatmanirbhar GPS called NAVIC. Now, after years of policy pitches, global fab tie-ups, and more announcements than we could count, India is finally making chips for real. In mid-2025, the country will roll out its first indigenously produced semiconductor chip, manufactured entirely on home soil.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw confirmed the news in May, stating that chips built on 28nm and 90nm nodes will begin production this year. That might not sound like bleeding-edge stuff (Taiwan’s pushing 3nm, after all), but for India? It’s a leap. Until now, chip design was where India stopped short. Manufacturing, especially the kind that involves actual cleanrooms and photolithography, was outsourced or delayed. But now? The country finally has some actual silicon to show for all the Silicon Valley-style ambition.
This rollout isn’t just about wafers and transistors, it’s about credibility. In the chip world, if you’re not building, you’re begging. And for the first time ever, India’s building.
It’s not cutting-edge tech, but it’s a cutting-edge moment for India
Let’s get the elephant in the cleanroom out of the way: 28nm and 90nm aren’t exactly jaw-dropping by 2025 standards. These nodes are a decade or more behind the latest silicon. Apple’s newest chips run on 3nm, and companies like TSMC and Intel are already flirting with 2nm and below. But India’s debut isn’t about leapfrogging, it’s about laying down the tracks.
28nm still powers a massive chunk of the world’s electronics, from cars to industrial machines to budget smartphones. And 90nm? That’s where legacy systems and embedded hardware live. These aren’t museum pieces, they’re the workhorses of supply chains that desperately need alternatives to China and Taiwan. For India, this isn’t about trying to beat the best. It’s about finally getting on the field.
And once you’re on the field, things start to change. Government-backed semiconductor parks, talent returning from overseas, and fab-related investments from global players like Micron and Foxconn are all signs that India’s no longer just making deck slides about chipmaking. It’s doing it. IT and Electronics Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the chips are already undergoing testing, and once validated, they’ll begin mass rollout this year. This isn’t a prototype for ribbon-cutting. It’s a product.
Manufactured using Indian machinery, handled by Indian engineers, and run in facilities that didn’t exist just five years ago. That’s the shift, India’s no longer just supplying the brains. It’s building the factory walls around them.
From design powerhouse to fab country
While the U.S. is throwing billions at domestic fabs through the CHIPS Act. China has SMIC, its national champion, quietly pumping out increasingly advanced nodes despite sanctions. The EU has its own semiconductor sovereignty program. Everyone wants control over the chip supply chain because they’ve all realized what India finally seems ready to act on: chips aren’t just parts, they’re leverage.
If data is the new oil, semiconductors are the refineries. For years, India was stuck playing support, writing the code, designing the logic, but importing the core. That’s why this 28nm rollout matters. It might not be flashy, but it’s real. It’s domestic. And it means India is no longer locked out of the conversation that decides who gets to build the future and who just rents it.
Additionally, this isn’t a symbolic “Make in India” moment either. It’s a functional pivot. You can’t leapfrog from zero fabs to 3nm overnight, but you can build infrastructure, talent, and political will, brick by brick. India’s chip journey starts with 28nm nodes because that’s where the global volume is. Power management chips. Automotive controllers. IoT hardware. These are what actually keep the lights on, and now India can produce them.
The rollout means more than semiconductors. It’s about agency, autonomy, and a hedge against global chip shortages and geopolitical bottlenecks. The specs may not wow Silicon Valley, but in India, they signal a new kind of digital independence. One where India stops waiting for imports and starts writing its own roadmap, in silicon, not just strategy decks.
Small spec chip with a huge implication
This isn’t about a single chip or even a single fab. It’s about the national narrative. India’s first homegrown semiconductor, tested, validated, and soon to be deployed, means the country no longer needs to talk about being self-reliant. It is. From infrastructure to talent to policy, the pieces are finally snapping into place. There’s still a long road to catch up with the likes of TSMC or Samsung, but India isn’t trying to leapfrog overnight.
It’s building the foundation for a long game. And for a country that missed the early waves of chip manufacturing, this rollout is more than symbolic. It’s proof that India’s no longer content to just write code for someone else’s hardware. It wants a seat at the fab table. 28nm might not make headlines in Cupertino, but in India, it just made history.
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