What was proposed
An NXP R&D centre in Mohali focusing on system design, semiconductor design, NFC, ADAS and secure connectivity. Plus collaboration on the NXP Startup Challenge with Startup Punjab.
Mohali · Punjab · SCL · CDIL · Semiconductor hub
India’s oldest chip address is being rebuilt Semiconductor in Mohali & Punjab
Mohali is home to SCL (1984 — India’s only government chip fab) and CDIL (1964 — India’s oldest semiconductor company). Both are expanding now, under India Semiconductor Mission funding, for the first time in decades.
Punjab 2026
60 yr
CDIL has been making chips in Mohali since 1964
Mohali semiconductor timeline
1964CDIL founded
1984SCL operational
1989The fire — SCL setback
2023CDIL SiC line launched
2025₹4,500 cr SCL upgrade
SCL — semiconductor laboratory
Est. 1983 (operational 1984) · Mohali, Punjab · Under MeitY
Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL)
India’s only government-owned integrated device manufacturer (IDM). Designs, fabricates and tests chips in-house at 180nm CMOS. Its chips have flown on Mangalyaan, powered ISRO’s satellites, and enabled India’s first indigenous radiation-hardened 32-bit space processors (VIKRAM-3201 and KALPANA-3201). Under the C2S programme, SCL is also India’s national foundry for student chip tape-outs — 56 student-designed chips fabricated as of November 2025.
180nmCurrent process node
~1,000Wafers/month
₹4,500 crModernisation committed
100×Wafer output target
SCL history
A forty-year story — from world frontier to revival
1976
The cabinet approves India’s first chip complex
PM Indira Gandhi’s cabinet approves the Semiconductor Complex. 22 sites evaluated; Mohali selected over Navi Mumbai, Chennai and Bhubaneswar. CM Giani Zail Singh offers 51 acres for ₹1 to win the project for Punjab.
1984
Production begins — near the global frontier
SCL (then Semiconductor Complex Limited) begins production at 5-micron CMOS in collaboration with American Microsystems Inc. By the late 1980s, upgraded to 0.8-micron — barely one generation behind Intel. At that point, Taiwan and China had not entered chip manufacturing as serious players.
February 7, 1989
The fire that set India back by decades
A fire breaks out at SCL’s facility, destroying the main production line. Losses: ~₹60–75 crore in imported equipment. The Intelligence Bureau investigates. The probe is inconclusive; fire reportedly started at multiple points simultaneously. Suspicion of deliberate sabotage lingers, unproven. TSMC is founded the same year. India exits the race it was leading.
1989–2006
Seventeen years of drift
Recovery takes eight years; partial operations resume in 1997 under ISRO. In 2000, an attempt to sell SCL equity to private investors fails — terms disagreement. By 2005, accumulated losses of ₹132 crore. In 2006, restructured as an R&D lab under the Department of Space, renamed “Semiconductor Lab”, and repositioned for ISRO/DRDO niche production.
2022–2023
Transfer to MeitY — a commercial mandate returns
SCL handed over from the Department of Space to MeitY. Opened to commercial chip design activity. Begins operating as India’s national foundry under C2S, fabricating student-designed chips for 315 academic institutions. First SHAKTI processors taped out at SCL by IIT Madras; IIT Bombay–SCL produce India’s first indigenous 180nm memory.
November 28, 2025
₹4,500 crore — the biggest upgrade in SCL’s history
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and MoS Ravneet Singh Bittu visit SCL in Mohali. ₹4,500 crore over three years announced; 100× current wafer output target; new Semiconductor Process Gallery; Abhyuthanam Training Block; 25 acres requested from Punjab government for expansion. Privatisation explicitly ruled out. A CDAC–DRDO consortium for indigenous chips announced alongside.
CDIL — Continental Device India
Est. 1964 · Mohali Plant: Phase VIII, Sector 67 · ISM-approved Aug 2025
CDIL Semiconductors
India’s oldest semiconductor company — making chips in Mohali for six decades. First to introduce silicon semiconductor technology in India. First Indian company to make space-grade devices for ISRO. First Indian SiC components manufacturer. The SPECS-scheme Surface Mount line was inaugurated September 28, 2023, by MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar. ISM approval in August 2025 adds +158.38 million units per year. Products serve EV charging, renewables, automotive, industrial, telecom and defence across 35+ countries.
1964Founded — 60+ years
760MAnnual units after ISM expansion
+158MNew units/yr (ISM tranche)
35+Countries served
NXP Semiconductors — R&D courtship
April 2026: Punjab pitches the world’s automotive semiconductor leader
In April 2026, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann — in the Netherlands with Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora — formally invited NXP Semiconductors to set up an R&D centre in Mohali. He met NXP’s Executive Director & Country Manager (Netherlands) Maurice Geraets and Head of Public Policy Dr Ankit Pal. The pitch: Kalkat Bhawan near the international airport and IT City, with Punjab’s engineering institutions as the talent pipeline.
NXP’s existing India presence
4 design/R&D centres (Noida, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune); ~3,000 engineers; CEO Kurt Sievers pledged “far in excess of a billion dollars” to double India R&D at Semicon India 2024.
Status as of mid-2026: Feasibility stage only. NXP leadership was invited to visit Punjab; no confirmed follow-up or commitment has been announced publicly. The pitch is credible — NXP already has four India centres and is actively expanding — but no signed agreement exists. The 25-acre land allocation for SCL from the Punjab government also remains publicly unconfirmed.
talent pipeline
Punjab’s engineering and research institutions
CM Mann cited these institutions to NXP as the reason Mohali can support a semiconductor R&D centre. They are the same pipeline feeding SCL’s C2S programme and CDIL’s manufacturing roles.
IIT ROPAR
IIT Ropar
M.Tech in Microelectronics & VLSI Design (started 2019–21, ~15 seats). A primary feeder for semiconductor R&D roles in the Chandigarh-Mohali corridor.
PEC
Punjab Engineering College
One of India’s oldest technical institutions; ECE and EEE programmes that have fed SCL and IT City for decades.
THAPAR
Thapar Institute
Strong ECE and embedded systems programmes; VLSI and microelectronics specialisation. Private institution with growing industry linkages in the tech corridor.
PLAKSHA
Plaksha University
Tech-focused research university; hosted the Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit 2026 (March 13–15). Emerging profile for applied research and industry collaboration.
ISB MOHALI
ISB Mohali
Indian School of Business Mohali campus. Relevant for leadership, strategy and BD talent supporting semiconductor industry entry and management.
NITTTR
NITTTR Chandigarh
National Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research. Critical for faculty upskilling — a train-the-trainer multiplier for ATMP and technical skilling programmes.
IBDP 2026
Punjab’s Industrial & Business Development Policy 2026
Launched March 7, 2026 (Ludhiana). Electronics and semiconductors are explicitly named thrust sectors. The most investor-friendly industrial policy Punjab has produced.
125%
Max incentive on Fixed Capital Investment for electronics / semicon
15 yr
Incentive support window (vs 5–10 yr typical in other states)
₹500 cr
Cap for ESDM / semiconductor sectoral incentives
20
Customisable incentives — investors pick what fits their model
Capital subsidy introduced for the first time in Punjab’s industrial policy history. Expanded FCI definition now includes land, R&D and environmental infrastructure (ETP/STP/ZLD). 25% additional incentives for nine thrust sectors and border/Kandi areas.
geography
Where everything sits
SCL Mohali
Phase X, Sector 72
CDIL Semiconductors
Phase VIII, Sector 67
IT City Mohali (Infosys etc.)
Near Airport Road
SBS International Airport
Adjacent to IT City
GMADA Aerotropolis
~8 km from SCL / CDIL
The corridor argument
SCL and CDIL sit in Mohali’s established industrial phases, 8 kilometres from the Aerotropolis township and roughly the same distance from SBS International Airport. IT City — with Infosys and other tech companies — is in between. The institutional cluster (IIT Ropar, PEC, Thapar, Plaksha) is within an hour of all three zones.
This is the spatial argument CM Mann was making to NXP: a semiconductor R&D centre in Mohali sits equidistant between a government chip fab (SCL), a private power device manufacturer (CDIL), an international airport with growing direct routes, and a pipeline of engineering institutions within commuting distance.
looking ahead
What a realistic Mohali semiconductor ecosystem looks like in 5 years
If current commitments execute on schedule, Mohali’s semiconductor profile by 2030 would look like this. This is a realistic, not optimistic, scenario — it assumes the 25-acre SCL allocation happens, the ₹4,500 crore modernisation stays on track, and CDIL’s ISM expansion completes.
What will exist
SCL modernised at 180nm with 100× capacity, a new training block, and a commercial tape-out service for startups and institutions. CDIL at ~760M units/year focused on SiC/power devices for EV and renewables. A possible NXP R&D centre (if the feasibility converts to a commitment). A C2S pipeline feeding engineering talent from 6+ nearby institutions.
What will still be missing
A leading-edge fab (28nm or below). Advanced packaging at commercial scale (Mohali has no flip-chip/fan-out OSAT). Domestic supply chain depth (substrates, leadframes, EMC compounds are still imported). And a trained ATMP workforce at the scale the facility expansion needs — which is exactly where the skilling gap sits.
questions
Mohali semiconductor — quick questions
What is the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Mohali?
SCL (Semiconductor Laboratory), in Phase X, Sector 72, Mohali, is India’s only government-owned semiconductor fab and IDM. It has operated since 1984, produces chips at 180nm for ISRO, DRDO and defence, and is being modernised with ₹4,500 crore under the India Semiconductor Mission (announced Nov 28, 2025).
What does CDIL make in Mohali?
CDIL Semiconductors (Continental Device India Ltd), founded 1964, makes discrete power semiconductors at its Mohali plant: MOSFETs, IGBTs, Schottky diodes, transistors and Silicon Carbide (SiC) devices. It is India’s oldest semiconductor company and first SiC components manufacturer. Its ISM-approved expansion (Aug 2025) adds +158.38M units/year.
Is NXP coming to Mohali?
In April 2026, Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann invited NXP Semiconductors to explore setting up an R&D centre in Mohali. As of mid-2026 it remains at feasibility stage — no commitment or MoU has been signed. NXP has 4 design centres in India (Noida, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune) and is actively expanding its India R&D presence.
What semiconductor incentives does Punjab offer?
Under IBDP 2026 (launched March 7, 2026), electronics and semiconductors are thrust sectors with incentives up to 125% of Fixed Capital Investment, capped at ₹500 crore, over a 15-year window. A capital subsidy was introduced for the first time. Investors can customise up to 20 incentive components to their business model.
Building semiconductor talent in Punjab?
Fidus Synergies advises institutions and industry on ATMP skilling programmes, curriculum design and plant-linked placement in the Mohali-Punjab semiconductor corridor.