‘Conducive for Conductors’: India set for the big league with latest Qualcomm feat

Bengaluru: In a landmark achievement for India’s fast-evolving semiconductor ecosystem, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. has successfully taped out its advanced 2nm semiconductor design, reinforcing the country’s growing role at the forefront of global chip engineering.

The milestone, delivered through close collaboration with Qualcomm’s engineering development centres in Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad, reflects the depth and maturity of India’s semiconductor design capabilities.

Together, these centres form one of Qualcomm’s most advanced global engineering footprints and house its largest engineering workforce outside the United States.

The 2nm tape-out not only marks a technological leap but also signals India’s emergence as a critical hub for next-generation semiconductor development. It highlights Qualcomm’s long-term investment in India and its commitment to building local capabilities that contribute directly to global innovation.

The achievement was recently showcased at Qualcomm’s Bengaluru facility during the visit of Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, and Electronics and IT.

His visit underlined the strategic importance of semiconductor design to India’s technology ambitions and reflected the government’s sustained push to strengthen domestic chip design, foster indigenous talent, and build a globally competitive ecosystem.

“India is increasingly at the centre of how advanced semiconductor technologies are being designed for the future,” said Vaishnaw. “Seeing Qualcomm’s work here — its engineering strength, deep design capabilities, and long-standing commitment to India — is truly impressive. Milestones like this demonstrate how far India’s design ecosystem has come and align strongly with our vision of building a globally competitive semiconductor industry.”

Qualcomm’s presence in India spans more than two decades, during which it has steadily built deep expertise across wireless, compute, artificial intelligence, and system-level engineering.

The successful 2nm tape-out further underscores this journey, showcasing how Indian engineering teams contribute across the full semiconductor value chain — from design implementation and validation to AI optimisation, system integration, and platform support for products used by billions of people worldwide.

Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT and CEO of the India Semiconductor Mission, noted that India’s semiconductor mission was gaining strong momentum. “A strengthening design ecosystem and sustained industry participation are critical to building long-term semiconductor capacity. Qualcomm’s long-term commitment reflects the growing depth of India’s design capabilities and contributes to the nation’s ambition of becoming a global hub for semiconductor innovation,” he said.

Senior leaders at Qualcomm emphasised the pivotal role played by India’s engineering talent in achieving the milestone. Srini Maddali, Senior Vice- President, Engineering, Qualcomm India Private Limited, said the tape-out is a testament to the strength of the company’s India teams.

“Advanced semiconductor design demands the very best talent. Our India teams consistently deliver at a global standard and remain integral to Qualcomm’s worldwide engineering roadmap,” he said.

Shashi Reddy, Senior Vice-President, Engineering, highlighted India’s contribution across multiple layers of system design, from architecture to software platforms and real-world AI use-case optimisation.

Mahesh Moorthy, Vice-President, Engineering, added that India-based teams were playing a key role in driving the convergence of hardware, software and intelligent connected systems that power the next wave of digital transformation.

Savi Soin, President, Qualcomm India, said the milestone reflected more than 20 years of sustained investment in talent and advanced engineering capabilities.

“India today plays a key role in how we design, develop and deliver next-generation technologies for the world. The innovation being developed here is shaping the future of connectivity, computation and intelligent systems globally,” he said.

Anchored by its Bengaluru campus — a key centre for next-generation wireless, AI, compute and system-level technologies — Qualcomm continues to build in India for the world. The successful 2nm tape-out stands as a powerful endorsement of India’s rising stature in global semiconductor design and its ambition to become a leading force in the chips powering tomorrow’s digital economy.