New Delhi, Sept. 18 -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pitched India as a reliable base for semiconductor and data centre industries, saying a semiconductor industry in India would matter more to the world at a time when global supply chains were "being weaponised". Modi's comments come days after he used similar phrasing at the Brics Summit in New Delhi, where he raised concerns over technology and critical minerals exports being choked off. While Modi did not name any country, China - whose leader Xi Jinping was at the summit over the weekend - has been criticised by several nations for its restrictions on exports of both rare earths and critical hi-tech equipment in recent years. "India is the mother of democracy. If a country like India can develop a critical industry such as the semiconductor industry, then it is beneficial for the world. Its importance increases as the supply chain is being weaponised globally," Modi said, inaugurating the fifth edition of Semicon India at the Yashobhoomi Convention Centre in New Delhi. India received investment pledges of about Rs.1 lakh crore, said IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw at a media briefing, including Rs.48,000 crore from semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials and Rs.10,000 crore from Lam research. Modi virtually inaugurated Suchi Semicon's facility in Surat, Gujarat, and CDIL's facility in Mohali, Punjab, with both units entering commercial production. Vaishnaw presented him with a memento holding chips from the five units now in commercial production in India: Micron, Kaynes, CG Semi, Suchi Semicon and CDIL. The event, themed "Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem", coincided with Modi's 76th birthday. Modi said the growing computing demands of AI were creating technical challenges for the industry beyond its traditional focus on transistor size and computing efficiency. Those challenges now extend to what surrounds the processor: placing memory closer to it, connecting several chips with minimal delay, and managing heat and power consumption. "Today if you are working on AI, challenge is not what is inside the chip, but what is around the chip," he said. He identified energy as a growing requirement for the industry as AI-driven data centres push up electricity demand, and said India was expanding its power infrastructure to meet it. Installed solar capacity had grown from 2 GW to 160 GW over the past decade, he said. India was also expanding nuclear power, including by opening the sector to private companies and working on small modular reactors. Modi said Semicon India had moved through successive stages since its first edition in 2022, beginning with policy and moving on to projects and then to pilot lines and testing. This year, he said, the focus had shifted to commercial production."The chips that come out of India's semiconductor units will reach global customers," he said. India had worked with industry across chip design, manufacturing, equipment, materials and testing to build the ecosystem, Modi said. "It is not easy for any country to reach this stage in semiconductors. This sector is not simply about setting up a factory and finishing the job. Building technological capacity takes decades," he said. India has now begun the second phase of its semiconductor programme, Modi said. The first phase involved $8 billion, and the second has been envisaged at $13.5 billion. Twelve units have been approved under the first phase, and he said the number would rise in the second. The government was reforming policies, funding and regulations, he said. It was also enabling international companies to collaborate with design companies in India and those of overseas Indian origin. India's aims extended beyond chip fabrication to the growth of fabless companies, which design chips and outsource their manufacture, the creation of intellectual property, and the development of compound semiconductors and silicon photonics. "We want fabless companies to grow, and intellectual property to be created in India. We want compound semiconductors, silicon photonics to become part of the ecosystem. All this is required for an AI enabling infrastructure," he said. Modi asked companies that make semiconductor equipment, chemicals, gases and materials to expand in India. He said the government was now focused on strengthening the supply chain and that the country had a demand pipeline for the industry. "Foundation is ready - supply chain strength is our focus," he said. He also drew on the industry's idea of tapeout, the stage at which a chip design is completed and sent for manufacturing, to describe India's approach: finishing one chip should mark the start of work on its next version. Modi cited India's engineering workforce as an advantage for chip companies. The government aims to train 100,000 engineers for the industry, and 70,000 have already been trained, he said. He urged researchers in India and abroad to carry out advanced technology development in the country, and asked semiconductor companies to expand their research and development (R&D) in India. Toshiki Kawai, CEO of Japanese chip-equipment maker Tokyo Electron, said the company would set up a training centre in Gujarat next year. Randhir Thakur, CEO and managing director of Tata Electronics, said the company's fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, and its packaging facility in Assam were on track. Tata Electronics has signed 16 memoranda of understanding with domestic and international companies, he said. Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of US memory-chip maker Micron, said the world had discussed India's semiconductor potential for decades, but "potential alone doesn't ship products". What he was seeing in India now was execution, he said. Micron has been in India for seven years and has 7,000 employees....