India’s semiconductor strategy has expanded beyond domestic chip fabrication.

By 2026, the roadmap spans silicon fabs, compound semiconductors, chip design, assembly, testing, advanced packaging, memory packaging and specialised semiconductor infrastructure. As of December 2025, 10 semiconductor projects with a total investment of ₹1.60 lakh crore had been approved across six states under the India Semiconductor Mission.

Within this wider value chain, advanced packaging stands out as one of India’s most credible near-term capability areas.

Leading-edge 2 nm and 3 nm logic fabs demand tens of billions of dollars, advanced lithography, high volume yield learning and deep supplier ecosystems. TSMC’s Arizona expansion, for example, brings its total investment in the state to over US$65 billion for three leading-edge fabs.

Advanced packaging offers India an alternative capability pathway into high-value semiconductor manufacturing. It carries lower capital intensity than leading-edge fabs while still requiring advanced process, materials, substrate, thermal, reliability and testing expertise.

That makes it a strategic capability choice for building semiconductor depth while India’s front-end fab ecosystem matures.

What advanced packaging really means

Semiconductor packaging turns a bare silicon die into a usable chip that can be mounted on a circuit board. It protects the die, enables electrical connections, supports heat dissipation and helps the chip operate reliably inside an electronic system.

Traditional packaging, such as wire bonded packages, is established, lower cost and widely used across consumer, industrial and automotive electronics.

Advanced packaging adds higher levels of integration. Technologies such as 2.5D integration, 3D stacking, chiplets, fan out wafer level packaging and embedded glass substrates bring multiple dies, memory units, sensors or functional blocks into compact integrated modules.

This improves system-level performance alongside transistor miniaturisation.

In AI and high-performance computing, advanced packaging brings logic and high-bandwidth memory closer together. That improves bandwidth, latency and power efficiency. TSMC’s CoWoS platform, for instance, uses high-density interconnects and silicon interposers to integrate logic chiplets with HBM cubes for AI and supercomputing applications.

The same logic applies to automotive, aerospace and defence electronics, where advanced packaging can support smaller, highly integrated and reliable modules for demanding operating environments.

Why it fits India’s near-term semiconductor strategy

India is still developing the ecosystem depth required for scaled leading-edge logic fabrication. That depth includes process control, supplier density, specialised tooling, ultra-clean manufacturing operations and high-volume yield learning.

Advanced packaging gives India a credible near term capability area because it aligns with existing and expandable engineering strengths.

It requires expertise in substrate engineering, thermal management, signal integrity, reliability testing, failure analysis, design for manufacturability, process optimisation and advanced test and inspection.

These are disciplines where India’s electronics, materials, mechanical, thermal and process engineering talent base can be developed into specialised packaging capability.

Market estimates also point to a growing domestic opportunity. IMARC estimates India’s semiconductor packaging market at US$1.43 billion in 2024, projected to reach US$2.81 billion by 2033. Grand View Research uses a different market definition and estimates India’s semiconductor packaging market at US$3.19 billion in 2024, projected to reach US$5.97 billion by 2030.

The numbers differ by methodology, yet both point in the same direction. Packaging is becoming a larger part of India’s semiconductor opportunity.

India is already building early ecosystem depth

The India Semiconductor Mission is supporting silicon fabrication, silicon carbide fabs, advanced and memory packaging facilities and specialised assembly and testing infrastructure.

Global semiconductor companies are also expanding their India presence. NXP Semiconductors has committed over US$1 billion to expand R&D in India, reinforcing the country’s semiconductor design and engineering base.

This is where advanced packaging becomes strategically useful. It can bridge India’s design strength and manufacturing ambitions.

A packaging ecosystem connects design teams, substrate suppliers, test houses, materials vendors, OSAT operators and electronics manufacturers into a stronger semiconductor value chain.

As companies diversify semiconductor supply chains, India can position itself as an emerging packaging, ATMP and OSAT node.

Odisha’s advanced glass packaging unit

A major recent development came from Odisha.

In April 2026, Odisha hosted the groundbreaking for India’s first glass substrate-based advanced semiconductor packaging unit in Bhubaneswar. PIB identifies it as the Heterogeneous Integration Packaging Solutions project, promoted by 3D Glass Solutions.

The facility is described as an advanced 3D glass substrate semiconductor packaging unit focused on heterogeneous integration. PIB reports an annual capacity of 70,000 glass panels, 50 million assembled units and around 13,000 advanced 3D heterogeneous integration modules.

Its target sectors include aerospace, defence, artificial intelligence, 5G technologies and data centres.

This gives India a dedicated advanced packaging capacity node in a field becoming increasingly relevant to AI, high-performance computing and defence electronics. It also brings embedded glass substrate technology into India’s semiconductor manufacturing conversation.

Over time, the facility could help anchor substrate suppliers, material vendors, equipment partners, testers and design support companies around a higher value packaging ecosystem.

The strategic value for India

Advanced packaging gives India a credible path into higher-value semiconductor manufacturing.

As electronics assembly scales, local packaging can become a higher-value link between device manufacturing and semiconductor manufacturing. India can capture greater value from chips used in smartphones, EV electronics, telecom equipment, industrial systems, data centre hardware and defence platforms.

The technical opportunity lies in system-level integration.

Modern semiconductor performance now depends on how efficiently dies, memory, substrates, interconnects and thermal systems work together. Packaging affects memory logic interfaces, heat management, bandwidth scaling, chiplet connectivity, system size, speed and power efficiency.

That makes advanced packaging a performance layer beyond its role as a back-end manufacturing step.

For India, it could become a foundation of a viable semiconductor strategy that is both strategically valuable today and tomorrow.

The future semiconductor advantage will depend on transistor scaling, integration, substrates, packaging, testing and system-level performance. For India, advanced packaging offers a credible capability window to participate in that shift with depth and timing.