India has plans to become a semiconductor powerhouse, but the real test begins now.According to a recent report by Equirus Securities, the biggest hurdle is not the strategy but the implementation, with heavy reliance on imported equipment and gaps in the domestic supply chain creating major challenges. The report said India’s semiconductor roadmap is based on proven approaches adopted by leading Asian chip-making economies rather than attempting to create an entirely new model. The country has distanced itself from the Chinese approach involving government-backed research and development from Taiwan, foreign direct investment-led manufacturing from Malaysia, domestic championing from South Korea and capital discipline from Singapore.Now the biggest hurdle is implementation, not strategy. The report said India needs to rapidly develop a skilled workforce, strengthen local supply chains and meet globally competitive quality standards.The report highlights that India is focusing on areas where it already has a competitive edge, supported by a talent base of nearly three lakh chip designers, representing about one-fifth of the global semiconductor design workforce.It said the country’s semiconductor strategy focuses on outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) and mature process nodes from 28nm to 110nm. These account for a significant portion of global wafer capacity and are widely used in automotive, industrial and consumer applications.“Demand-led import substitution underpins the case, with chip consumption set to more than double to nearly $155 billion by CY31,” the report said.Despite these strengths, the report said India is expected to continue importing most of the specialty chemicals and electronic-grade gases needed by the industry, as well as more than 90% of its semiconductor manufacturing equipment.It also pointed out that although India has a strong pool of chip designers, it faces a shortage of manufacturing-specific talent, including process engineers, metrology experts, yield engineers and cleanroom technicians.The report describes the target of producing 85,000 industry-ready engineers by CY27 as ambitious but achievable. It cited as an example Micron’s Sanand ATMP facility, which became operational with about 2,000 trained workers within three years of construction.Describing India’s semiconductor policy as one of the most promising industrial initiatives, the report said that many shortcomings still need to be addressed. These include strong incentives for chip design, the lack of a robust device and materials ecosystem, and limited prospects for manufacturing chips below the 28nm node in the near term.It added that the proposed 28nm manufacturing facility at Dholera will continue to be considered a mature-node project by global standards even after reaching scale.According to the report, the country’s dependence on imports for upstream equipment and raw materials remains the biggest weakness in its semiconductor ambitions. It is estimated that India will continue to import more than 90% of chip-making equipment and 85 to 90% of specialty chemicals and electronic-grade gases.