India’s Semiconductor Startups Build Talent Solutions From The Ground Up
Facing an industry-wide talent crunch, India’s semiconductor startups are taking bold, homegrown steps to bridge the widening skills gap. Rather than wait for systemic overhaul, agile players like Agnit and Mindgrove Technologies are creating their own pipelines through in-house training, academic partnerships, and strategic hiring from adjacent domains.
According to a TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship report, India’s semiconductor industry could face a shortfall of 250,000 to 300,000 skilled professionals by 2027. While global giants like Intel and Qualcomm have long leveraged India’s chip design expertise, the shortage is particularly acute in high-tech areas like fabrication, packaging, and process engineering.
To address this, startups are taking the lead.
Bengaluru-based Agnit is offering intensive 90-120-day role-specific training programs to quickly equip new hires with skills tailored to compound semiconductor technologies. “By integrating upskilling with daily operations, we ensure our teams stay aligned with fast-evolving technical requirements,” said Hareesh Chandrasekhar, CEO and co-founder. The startup also taps into India’s expat engineering talent and recruits from material science and chemical engineering backgrounds, bringing them up to speed through custom-built training modules.
Mindgrove Technologies, on the other hand, is going grassroots—actively engaging students through internships and final-year projects. “We invest in candidates early, even before they join the payroll,” said CEO and co-founder Shashwath TR. “Strong fundamentals in computer architecture and devices matter, but hands-on lab time and open-ended experimentation are what really prepare engineers for the field.”
Larger industry players are also stepping in. Tata Electronics, which is building a ₹91,000 crore fab facility in Dholera, is reportedly sending hundreds of employees to Taiwan for specialized training. Meanwhile, CDIL Semiconductors, one of India’s oldest chipmakers, launched the India Semicon Challenge in 2024—a talent hunt across North Indian campuses that attracted over 1,000 participants. Finalists spent a full day at CDIL’s Mohali facility, getting hands-on exposure to real-world semiconductor processes.
“We want to put young engineers in the middle of the action and help them see the possibilities in semiconductor manufacturing,” said Prithvideep Singh, general manager at CDIL. The company now partners with over 11 institutions, including IITs and NITs, for internships, training, and collaborative R&D.
India has already overtaken most of the West in entrepreneurial zeal for semiconductors—389 active semiconductor startups currently exist with more than half born after 2010 (Tracxn). Investment is increasing as well—investment in semiconductor start-ups surged from $1.5 million in 2022 to $21.3 million in 2024.
India is looking to bolster self-reliance in semiconductors, and these start-ups are not just inventing chips and chips architectures. They are creating a new talent ecosystem from new hires and from the ground up, and that might be their biggest innovation to date.
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