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In May this year, India approved a new semiconductor fabrication facility by HCL and Foxconn JV near Jewar Airport in Uttar Pradesh, its sixth such project. Just weeks later, a ₹13,000 crore Special Economic Zone for Micron in Gujarat received the green light. As India accelerates its efforts to become a serious player in global semiconductor manufacturing, attention is also turning to a more niche, often overlooked but critical piece of this puzzle: the country’s semiconductor design Global Capability Centers (GCCs).

These design hubs are the engines behind the sophisticated chips that power everything from smartphones to satellites. While India’s broader GCC ecosystem has continued to scale steadily across industries, the semiconductor design segment has experienced a more nuanced trajectory. According to Careernet’s Talent Demand Analysis of Semiconductor Design GCCs in India (FY 2024–25), job openings in this vertical dropped by 15% over the past year, pointing to a cooling in hiring even as the skills themselves remain in high demand. The reasons for this lie as much in global geopolitics as they do in the dynamics of India’s evolving chip ambitions.

The global semiconductor industry today is defined not just by innovation but by geopolitics. Export controls introduced under the U.S. Chips and Science Act of 2022, combined with China’s aggressive push for semiconductor self-sufficiency through its “Made in China 2025” initiative, have triggered realignments across supply chains. India’s own steps like the ban on 59 Chinese apps in 2020 and the exclusion of Huawei and ZTE from 5G infrastructure, signal a clear alignment with the US-led technology bloc. According to a 2023 report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, India’s presence in the chip design space is significant, but its dependence on imported tools and foundry access leaves it vulnerable to broader disruptions in the global tech ecosystem.

These macro-level shifts are showing up in hiring patterns. The Careernet study shows that open roles in semiconductor design GCCs peaked at 3,760 in May 2024, dropped to 3,040 in January 2025, and closed the fiscal at 3,181 in March. While the 15% year-on-year decline may suggest contraction, the data reveals a more complex picture. Demand remains strong for deep-tech skill sets such as Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI), embedded systems, RF and analogue design, front-end and back-end verification, and cybersecurity for embedded systems. It’s the hiring sentiment, not the skills, that’s been hit, particularly in larger firms tied closely to global economic cycles. Mid-sized GCCs, by contrast, have shown greater agility, adapting quickly to shifts in demand and supply.

Where India Stands in Chip Design and its Dependencies

The sector’s uneven momentum also stems from India’s current dependence on overseas foundries for prototyping and fabrication. Designs created in India are still largely tested and validated abroad, adding cost and time. This bottleneck may begin to ease as India expands its domestic chip manufacturing ecosystem. The government’s ₹76,000 crore Semicon India programme, along with the Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme that provides up to 50% reimbursement for product design and 4–6% for deployment-linked outcomes, is aimed at strengthening both manufacturing and design capabilities. According to Careernet’s report, the internalisation of semiconductor manufacturing could help reverse the current hiring slowdown, with projections that new design GCCs may rise by 30% by 2030.

In parallel, talent pipelines are also expanding. India currently contributes about 20% of the global integrated circuit design workforce, roughly 125,000 engineers, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF). Government-backed initiatives such as the Chips to Startup (C2S) programme aim to add another 85,000 skilled professionals over the next five years. States like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are beginning to emerge as regional clusters, with investments in both fabs and upstream components. Chennai, for instance, has been identified by ITIF as one of the most economical global locations for electronics R&D, with annual operating costs as low as US$1.24 million, well below international averages.

There’s also evidence that India’s design GCCs are beginning to see returns from these structural bets. AMD’s planned US$400 million investment into a new design center in Bengaluru, which is expected to add 3,000 engineering roles by 2028, signals growing confidence in India’s design ecosystem. Other developments, such as Tata Electronics’ ₹91,000 crore fabrication unit in Dholera, Gujarat, and Renesas Electronics’ OSAT (Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test) facility in Sanand are expected to improve the design-to-production loop that has so far held Indian GCCs back from higher-value innovation.

Challenges and the Way Forward 

What remains to be addressed, however, are foundational infrastructure gaps. Fabrication units are notoriously water and power intensive, and scaling them at pace will require more than just financial investment. In addition, while IP design, a critical piece of semiconductor innovation, continues to generate steady demand, the sector faces a shortage of senior talent with experience in scaling high-complexity design operations.

Nevertheless, the momentum is building. With India on track to launch its first domestically produced chip by the end of 2025, and international partners such as Malaysia expressing interest in collaborative efforts across assembly and testing, India’s position in the global semiconductor value chain is set to evolve. The industry is expected to create between 800,000 and 1 million job opportunities over the next five years according to estimates reported by Careernet.

According to the Careernet report, India’s semiconductor design GCCs may still be a small fraction – just about 4% of the country’s total GCC ecosystem. But they sit at the intersection of engineering depth, geopolitical strategy, and national ambition. If the current integration of design, fabrication, and testing succeeds, this once niche segment could soon become a strategic cornerstone of India’s GCC story.