India, Oct. 7 -- Every nation that has reached the front rank did so through a revolution of its own. The countries that seized the Industrial Revolution still shape the world's politics and markets. India has its own examples. The Green Revolution ended our dependence on imported grain, and the White Revolution turned a milk-short country into a dairy giant. The formula is consistent: the entrepreneur reads the market, the government reads the technology, both read the world, and together they make bold calls. A third such moment is arriving now, and it is etched in silicon.

Chips are the brains of every machine. For decades, India mostly bought them from abroad. Only a handful of specialised chips, built for research, defence and space...