Tata Dholera Fab's Commercial Production Pushed to Mid-2028, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw

India's first commercial semiconductor wafer fabrication plant, being built by Tata Electronics in the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) of Gujarat, is now expected to begin commercial production by mid-2028. Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw stated the revised timeline, which moves the start of commercial operations significantly beyond the earlier target of end-2026.

The Dholera fab has seen its expected start date shift several times since the project was approved. When the Union Cabinet cleared the Tata Electronics and Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (PSMC) foundry on February 29, 2024, with an investment of about Rs 91,000 crore, Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran had expected commercial production from Dholera to begin in late 2025 or early 2026. Later, the Minister indicated that chip production could begin by December 2026. The latest statement places commercial operations in mid-2028.

Speaking at Semicon India 2026 in New Delhi in September, Vaishnaw said India's first wafer from the Dholera plant is expected by 2028. He said the country's semiconductor industry has moved from building capacity to scaling production. He also shared that he has kept one nail on a wall in his office empty, waiting to hang the first wafer produced at Dholera. According to the Minister, a large part of the plant's capacity has already been booked.

The revised timeline comes alongside a reported change in the plant's starting technology. According to a Bloomberg report, Tata Electronics will begin wafer production at Dholera mainly with 90-nanometre (nm) process technology, rather than the 28nm node that was earlier presented as the starting point of the project. In Tata Sons' annual report, Chandrasekaran had described 28nm as the starting point of the group's semiconductor journey.

Responding to the report, a Tata Electronics spokesperson said the Dholera facility will manufacture chips across technology nodes ranging from 28nm to 110nm. The company stated that production was always planned in phases, with 55nm and 90nm processes to be introduced before 28nm. Chips made on the 90nm node are commonly used in industrial equipment and automobiles, while the 28nm node has wider use in smartphones, communication equipment, consumer electronics and vehicles.

The Dholera fab is being developed in partnership with Taiwan-based PSMC, which is providing technology and fab expertise to the project. The plant is being designed to process up to 50,000 wafers per month. The project received support under the government's semiconductor incentive programme announced in 2021, under which the Centre agreed to fund up to half the cost of approved semiconductor projects.

Vaishnaw also gave an update on the wider India Semiconductor Mission. He said five of the 12 ATMP/OSAT (assembly, testing and packaging) units selected in Phase 1 have started commercial production and are exporting as well as supplying Indian companies. He explained that the government's semiconductor programme was designed with a 20-year roadmap because of the complexity of the industry and the time needed to build an ecosystem around fabs. The second phase, Semicon 2.0, focuses on chip design, materials and machinery, more fabs and ATMP units, research and development, and talent.

For Dholera, the fab remains the anchor industrial project of the SIR. The Gujarat government has been facilitating residential units for Tata Electronics staff, suppliers and associated vendors in the region. According to earlier reports, around 275 apartments were available, of which 250 had been occupied by Tata employees and ecosystem partners, with Tata planning more housing in the first phase of its own residential project.