Siliconpolitik

The Siliconpolitik Project seeks to answer two main questions: How do semiconductors play a role in changing the global technology landscape? And what role does India have to play in it?

The Siliconpolitik Approach

Semiconductors have become a domain of hectic geopolitical contestation. The supply chain’s geopolitical vulnerability has sparked a spate of industrial policies aiming to indigenise semiconductor supply chain production. We, at the Takshashila Institution believe that India should play a different game — it should leverage its comparative advantage in semiconductor design to occupy strategic points in the supply chain.

Semiconductors are meta-critical - there are geopolitical, geoeconomic, & technological imperatives for securing access to semiconductors. The COVID-19 pandemic and the geographic concentration of semiconductor manufacturing have exposed the vulnerabilities of the semiconductor supply chain.

In response, many nation-states are offering subsidies in the hope of nationalising the semiconductor supply chain. In this geopolitical context, the Siliconpolitik project will propose a way forward for India to secure its strategic interests in this domain.