India is preparing to establish its first national security-focused semiconductor fabrication plant, a facility designed to supply advanced chips to the U.S. armed forces, allied militaries, and Indian defense organizations. The initiative stems from a strategic agreement between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden, formalized in Delaware and outlined in a joint fact sheet released after their meeting.
According to the document, “President Biden and Prime Minister Modi hailed a watershed arrangement to establish a new semiconductor fabrication plant focused on advanced sensing, communication, and power electronics for national security, next generation telecommunications, and green energy applications.” The planned fab will target production of infrared, gallium nitride (GaN), and silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors—materials known for their performance in high-power, high-frequency, and extreme-environment applications. GaN and SiC devices are particularly valued in aerospace, defense radar, electric vehicles, and renewable energy systems due to their efficiency and thermal resilience.
The facility will be supported by the India Semiconductor Mission and a strategic technology partnership involving Bharat Semi, 3rdiTech, and the U.S. Space Force. This collaboration underscores the growing emphasis on secure, resilient semiconductor supply chains, especially for mission-critical systems. For defense and aerospace engineers, the integration of GaN and SiC technologies into secure production lines represents a significant step toward reducing dependency on vulnerable global supply routes.
The leaders also highlighted complementary industrial developments. GlobalFoundries has established the GF Kolkata Power Center, aimed at advancing research and development in chip manufacturing. This center will focus on enabling technologies for zero- and low-emission vehicles, connected transportation systems, IoT devices, artificial intelligence, and data center infrastructure. Such cross-sector applications demonstrate how defense-grade semiconductor innovations can spill over into civilian markets, accelerating progress in automotive electrification and smart systems.
Private sector partnerships in emerging technologies were also recognized. IBM has signed memoranda of understanding with the Government of India to deploy its watsonx AI platform on India’s Airawat supercomputer. This arrangement is expected to open new avenues for AI-driven semiconductor design, optimization, and quantum computing research, supporting India’s National Quantum Mission. High-performance computing and AI tools are increasingly integral to materials engineering, enabling faster iteration of device architectures and predictive modeling of component behavior under extreme conditions.
The joint fact sheet pointed to progress since the November 2023 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. Commerce Department and India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry under the “Innovation Handshake” agenda. This framework has already facilitated two industry roundtables—one in each country—bringing together startups, venture capital firms, corporate investment teams, and government officials. Such gatherings aim to accelerate innovation investment and foster cross-border technology ecosystems, a critical factor in sustaining semiconductor R&D momentum.
Beyond semiconductors, the leaders welcomed advances in space cooperation. Preparations are underway for the first joint NASA-ISRO mission to conduct scientific research aboard the International Space Station in 2025. Initiatives under the Civil Space Joint Working Group have been instrumental in exchanging technical ideas, with expectations that its next meeting in early 2025 will broaden collaborative opportunities in civil and commercial space domains.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, addressing a briefing on the visit, emphasized India’s focus on “minimizing conflict and division, leveraging democratic values even as we pursued development objectives, and highlighting the role of technology and the digital revolution in ushering in good governance, essentially to turn the disruptive features of technology to good ends.” He noted that technology was central to both bilateral and plurilateral discussions, including those within the Quad framework. In these meetings, Prime Minister Modi underscored India’s approach to cooperation and engagement for growth with diverse partners across the Indo-Pacific, a stance acknowledged by other Quad leaders.
For engineers and technologists, the convergence of semiconductor manufacturing, AI integration, and space collaboration within this agreement signals a deliberate alignment of advanced materials, electronics, and strategic partnerships. The inclusion of the U.S. Space Force in the semiconductor initiative reflects the high stakes of ensuring trusted supply chains for defense-critical components, while the broader ecosystem being cultivated promises to influence both defense and civilian technology landscapes.