India has chip dreams. What it needs is a strategy

ACROSS the world, countries are spending wagonloads of taxpayer money to develop or support their semiconductor industries. This pipeline of cash has yielded some successes and some failures; the difference is usually down to how strategically the money has been spent.

The Indian government, which has also loosened its purse strings, needs to figure out a strategy – and soon.

Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, federal budgets have generally been pretty stingy with subsidies. But US$11 billion has already been set aside, and largely allocated, to various chip-related projects. News emerged last week that another US$5 billion to US$10 billion might follow.