India launches $21 billion AI and chip push, expands digital public infrastructure

The Indian government announced approval of 12 semiconductor manufacturing projects under the India Semiconductor Mission, representing an investment pipeline of about Rs 1.64 lakh crore (roughly $20 billion). The projects include one fabrication unit, two compound‑semiconductor fabs and nine packaging plants, and are part of the newly announced India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 aimed at strengthening domestic equipment, material supplies and intellectual‑property capabilities.

India also highlighted the next phase of its Digital India programme, now centred on artificial intelligence and advanced digital public infrastructure. The IndiaAI Mission, funded with over Rs 10,372 crore, has built a shared compute facility with more than 45,000 GPUs, supports 15 large‑ and small‑scale language models, and hosts over 12,500 datasets, 307 AI models and 20 toolkits on the AI Kosh platform. Twenty‑seven Data and AI Labs have been opened across tier‑2 and tier‑3 cities and more than 8.4 million learners have completed the YUVA AI course.

Digital public infrastructure (DPI) has grown to a global scale: The India Stack suite—including Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, CoWIN and others—now operates in partnerships with 23‑24 countries, with UPI live in eight nations such as the UAE, Singapore, France and Sri Lanka. UPI processes nearly half of worldwide real‑time digital transactions. Broadband subscriptions have reached 106.58 crore, 5G coverage spans 99.9 % of districts, and the BharatNet network connects 2.18 lakh gram panchayats. These developments are positioned as pillars of India’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision for inclusive, citizen‑centric growth.