Chip(per) ambitions: Electronics majors weigh semiconductor leap on policy push

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. NEW DELHI: India’s top listed electronics manufacturers Syrma SGS and Dixon Technologies are reassessing plans to enter semiconductor and chip component manufacturing after the Union budget for 2026-27 announced India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) 2.0, a new incentives programme aimed at building deeper chip capabilities. The second mission, expected to follow the ₹76,000 crore chip incentive scheme launched five years ago, will focus on developing a more comprehensive semiconductor components ecosystem.

The policy shift is prompting electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies, mostly dependent on low-margin assembly work, to examine whether they can move up the electronics supply chain. “Companies which missed out on ISM 1.0 have now got another window to foray into semiconductor manufacturing. We at Syrma SGS would be studying the policy guidelines and would seriously endeavour to enter this space," Jasbir Singh Gujral, managing director of Syrma SGS, told Mint.

Dixon Technologies, meanwhile, took a more reserved stance. “We will evaluate (ISM 2.0), once the detailed guidelines are out," Saurabh Gupta, director-finance and group chief financial officer at Dixon, told Mint. Dixon, to be sure, has flagged semiconductor ambitions before.

At the company’s Q3FY25 earnings call a year ago, managing director Atul Lall told analysts that the company was “in active discussions" to set up a display fabrication plant with a foreign technology partner at a net investment of $3 billion. That plan has not materialized so far. Analysts say the strategic appeal is clear even if near-term scale is limited.