India now accounts for a fifth of the world’s chip design and VLSI workforce, a senior Intel executive said at SEMICON India 2026.
Srinivasan Iyengar, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Central Engineering Group, said the country holds 20% of the global chip design and very large-scale integration workforce, backed by more than 85,000 skilled professionals. He said over 355 Indian universities offer advanced programmes in semiconductor and VLSI design, and that academic institutions have developed more than 250 chips.
“Semiconductors are very nucleus to the growth and what we do on a daily basis, especially with the agentic AI world out here. And it’s really amazing to see how India has actually fuelled itself to not just be a part of it, but to sort of lead this from the front. I think India is positioned extremely well to do that,” Iyengar said.
He explained that Intel has operated in India for more than four decades, with businesses spanning client and edge, data centre and networking based largely in Bengaluru, and described the country’s semiconductor journey as a move from “good to great”.
The comments came as the government pushes its Semicon 2.0 programme. India is expected to hold a $100-110 billion share of a global semiconductor market projected to cross $1 trillion by 2030, with an estimated 600,000 additional jobs. The country unveiled Vikram, its first fully indigenous 32nm chip, in September 2025.
