India will launch four semiconductor plants in 2026, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday, underlining the government’s push to position the country as a credible global hub for chip manufacturing and advanced technologies.

Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Vaishnaw met senior executives from leading global technology companies, including IBM and Meta, to discuss collaboration across semiconductors, artificial intelligence and platform safety.

“The world looks at Bharat as a key driver of global innovation,” the minister said in a post on X, sharing photographs from his bilateral meetings and signalling growing international confidence in India’s technology ambitions.

The world looks at Bharat as a key driver of global innovation.

Met Mr. Arvind Krishna, CEO, @IBM and Mr. Joel Kaplan, Chief Global Affairs Officer, @Meta.

📍 WEF, Davos pic.twitter.com/Mz0C8C64xx

— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) January 21, 2026

Semiconductor Collaboration and AI Sovereignty

Discussions with IBM focused on strengthening India’s capabilities in advanced chip technologies, including cutting-edge nodes such as 7 nanometres and 2 nanometres, as well as expanding the domestic semiconductor talent pool. Arvind Krishna, who also shared the stage with Vaishnaw at a separate panel, stressed the need for India to build what he described as “AI sovereignty”.

Krishna said this would require strong local capabilities across the semiconductor value chain, model development and real-world deployment. He noted that smaller, specialised AI models were rapidly closing the gap with large foundational models and now accounted for nearly 95 per cent of AI consumption. Citing China’s DeepSeek as an example, he argued that success in AI often follows multiple failed attempts, urging India to embrace experimentation and a higher tolerance for failure.

The meeting with Meta, attended by the company’s Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, centred on protecting users from deepfakes and AI-generated content. Meta briefed the minister on measures being taken to safeguard users on its platforms, though specific details were not disclosed.

India’s Semiconductor Ecosystem Takes Shape

Vaishnaw said India was steadily building a full semiconductor ecosystem, spanning design, fabrication, packaging, materials, specialty gases and equipment. He revealed that four semiconductor plants would begin commercial production in 2026, while 10 fabrication plants were currently under construction and three pilot projects were underway.

According to the minister, global companies increasingly view India as a reliable supply-chain partner at a time of heightened geopolitical and trade uncertainties. He pointed to recent investment commitments, including Google’s plan to set up a $15 billion AI data centre hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, described as the company’s largest AI hub outside the United States.

Vaishnaw added that India was developing 12 AI models, with at least four expected to be launched soon. These models, he said, would focus on sector-specific applications rather than competing directly with large, general-purpose foundational models.

Building Tech Careers at Home

Addressing concerns about talent migration, Krishna said India’s ecosystem had changed dramatically over the past few decades. Referring to IIT graduates, he noted that many were now choosing to build startups at home rather than seeking opportunities abroad. “Look at IIT Bombay today, half the graduates are doing startups in India. The ecosystem is alive,” he said, recalling that conditions were very different when he graduated in 1985.

Vaishnaw highlighted the scale of India’s startup landscape, which now includes more than 200,000 companies. He said 24 startups were actively designing chips, of which 18 had already secured venture capital funding, reflecting growing investor confidence in domestic semiconductor design capabilities.

The 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum runs until January 23 in Davos-Klosters and is hosting nearly 3,000 participants from over 130 countries under the theme “A Spirit of Dialogue”, with technology, geopolitics and economic resilience high on the agenda.

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