India’s semiconductor industry is entering a bold new era, but the road ahead is not lined only with bright announcements and generous subsidies. Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has delivered a blunt warning: as India becomes a more significant player in global chip design and manufacturing, it will become a target. In an interview with NDTV published on September 20, Vaishnaw said the country should prepare for cyberattacks, misinformation campaigns, and even physical attacks designed to disrupt its progress. “We will face cyberattacks. People will spread a lot of fake news. They will also try to do all kinds of physical attacks,” he said. His reasoning was simple: semiconductors are a strategic industry, and strategic industries attract strategic threats. This is not a comfortable message for a government that likes to project confidence, but it is an honest one. India has long been known for software services and chip design, but its physical manufacturing footprint has been small compared with Taiwan, South Korea, the United States, and China. That is changing quickly. Through a heavily subsidized national push, India is building a semiconductor ecosystem spanning fabrication, packaging, equipment, materials, and research. As that ecosystem grows, so does the attention it draws. Vaishnaw’s warning is not meant to scare away investors or talent; it is meant to build a resilient mindset among everyone involved. He wants companies to understand that success in a strategic industry brings not only admiration but also opposition. The global semiconductor map has been stable for years, dominated by a few powerful players. A new entrant at India’s scale inevitably changes the landscape, and not everyone will welcome that change. The minister is clear: proceed with ambition, but also with vigilance.
Behind this warning lies one of the most ambitious industrial programs in India’s history. In July, the Union Cabinet approved Semicon 2.0 with an outlay of ₹1.275 trillion, roughly $13.5 billion. That new phase substantially increases government support compared with the earlier ₹760 billion semiconductor program launched in 2021. The goal is not to build a few isolated factories but to create an entire self-reinforcing ecosystem. The government says Semicon 2.0 will focus on six areas: semiconductor design, equipment and materials, additional fabrication plants, assembly and packaging facilities, research and development, and talent. The idea is to make India a place where the full lifecycle of a chip, from concept to finished product, can happen within the country. There are already signs of momentum. At the SEMICON India conference in New Delhi, the government announced that five semiconductor manufacturing plants had begun commercial production under the first phase, and twelve projects have been approved. Investment commitments across the ecosystem are estimated at around ₹1 trillion, and Vaishnaw has said Semicon 2.0 could attract another $11 billion to $12 billion in the next two to three years. The scale of global interest was impossible to ignore: more than 51,000 registrations, about 40,000 attendees, over 600 exhibitors, including around 300 international companies, and representatives from 52 countries. Fifty-six memorandums of understanding, corporate announcements, and other initiatives were unveiled during the conference. These numbers point to genuine momentum. India is no longer just talking about its potential; it is showing real investment, real production, and real global partnerships. But every new fab and every new agreement also places India deeper into a fiercely competitive and politically sensitive arena.
The timing of Vaishnaw’s warning is no accident. India is emerging at a moment when semiconductors have become central to great-power competition. Governments across the world are pouring money into domestic production, restricting exports of advanced technology, and treating chip supply chains as matters of national security. In such an environment, India’s arrival is inevitably seen by some as a threat. Vaishnaw told The Press Trust of India that geopolitical risks will rise as India develops the ability to design and manufacture chips. “That will be seen as a threat by many other established players,” he said. He also said he has discussed these risks directly with semiconductor companies and urged them to prepare for cyberattacks and other forms of disruption. This is not abstract fear. A cyberattack could target a fab’s control systems or steal sensitive design data. A misinformation campaign could spook investors, sow distrust among workers, or damage India’s international reputation. Physical attacks could disrupt the precise, ultra-clean environments that chip manufacturing requires. Vaishnaw is asking the industry to treat these possibilities as normal risks, not unlikely events. For companies entering India, the message is clear: investment is not enough. They must also build cybersecurity systems, train employees to recognize disinformation, protect their facilities, and coordinate with government agencies. The same global forces that are pushing companies to diversify away from existing semiconductor hubs are also creating powerful incentives for those who want to preserve the status quo. India wants to be a trusted alternative. But becoming one requires more than hardware; it requires resilience, intelligence, and constant awareness of the world around it.
To make his point concrete, Vaishnaw referred to India’s experience with the expansion of Apple manufacturing. When Apple and its Taiwanese partner Foxconn began producing iPhones in India, the journey was far from smooth. In 2021, more than 250 Foxconn workers fell ill after eating contaminated food at company-linked accommodation near Chennai. The incident led to protests and a temporary shutdown of the plant. Apple later placed the facility on probation after Apple and Foxconn acknowledged that some dormitories and dining facilities failed to meet required standards. Vaishnaw cited this as an example of the kind of disruption India’s semiconductor industry should expect. He also accused Reuters of publishing “fake news” when it reported that married women were excluded from some assembly jobs at Foxconn’s main iPhone plant. The Reuters investigation, published in 2024, cited workers, former employees, recruiters, and job advertisements. The Labor Ministry asked the Tamil Nadu government and regional labor authorities for reports on the allegations, and the National Human Rights Commission said the claims, if established, raised concerns over equality and employment discrimination. Foxconn and Apple said at the time that they had policies against discrimination, and Foxconn denied that married women were barred from employment. The available public record does not establish that the 2021 food poisoning was deliberate sabotage. But Vaishnaw’s broader point stands: when a major global industry sets up operations in India, it enters a contested environment. Problems will arise, some accidental and some deliberate. The country and its companies must be able to tell the difference, respond quickly, and prevent small incidents from becoming reputational crises. The minister does not want the semiconductor industry to learn these lessons after the damage is done. He wants it to prepare now, before the stakes become even higher.
Vaishnaw’s comments offer a more cautious counterpoint to the celebratory tone around India’s semiconductor expansion. There is indeed plenty to celebrate: commercial production at five plants, a robust pipeline of approved projects, and billions of dollars in commitments from equipment and materials companies. But the minister is reminding everyone that building an industry is not only about cutting ribbons and signing agreements. It is about creating institutions and habits that can withstand pressure. As India develops its semiconductor ecosystem, it must also develop security infrastructure. That includes cyber defenses, secure supply chains, crisis communication plans, physical security, intelligence sharing between government and industry, and a workforce trained to recognize and report threats. It also includes diplomatic readiness, because attacks may come from state actors or from organizations acting in their interest. The global semiconductor industry is already undergoing a historic diversification. The pandemic exposed the fragility of concentrated supply chains, and geopolitical tensions have made governments determined to secure access to chips. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed this vision at SEMICON India, saying the world is looking for new and trusted manufacturing destinations and that India is preparing itself to meet that need. Trust, however, cannot be manufactured the way a chip is made. It is built over time through reliable performance, transparent behavior, and the ability to survive crises. A single major disruption, whether a cyberattack or a successful disinformation campaign, could set back India’s reputation and discourage future investment. That is why Vaishnaw has told the industry to treat security not as an afterthought but as part of the core project. The companies investing in India must accept that responsibility. They cannot simply rely on government incentives and low costs; they must help protect the environment in which they operate.
In the end, Vaishnaw’s message is both realistic and aspirational. He acknowledges that India’s arrival in the semiconductor world will divide opinion. “Once people start feeling that a new country has come into this industry, there will be people who support us, but there will also be people who oppose us,” he told NDTV. That is not cynicism; it is clarity. Every major technological power has faced resistance, and no country has entered advanced manufacturing without competition and conflict. The question is not whether India will face attacks, but whether it will be ready for them. Vaishnaw has told the entire industry to be prepared for such incidents now. That preparation is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of seriousness. It shows that India understands the true nature of the game it is playing. Semiconductors are more than a business opportunity. They are a foundation of future prosperity, national security, and technological autonomy. The workers who will staff the new fabs, the engineers who will design the chips, the local communities that will host the factories, and the investors who will take risks on India all need to know what they are part of. They are not just participants in a market; they are part of a national effort to reshape India’s place in the global technology order. There will be cyberattacks, false narratives, sabotage attempts, and moments of doubt. But if India and its semiconductor industry can withstand those pressures, the reward will be more than factories and exports. It will be a new kind of self-reliance in the most important technology of our time. The warnings are not a reason to turn back. They are a reason to move forward with open eyes and strong defenses.