Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the trio of Artificial Intelligence, Semiconductors, and Electronic manufacturing is set to drive India’s next phase of exponential growth. Speaking at the inauguration of the Gujarat SemiConnect Conference 2026 in Gandhinagar today, Mr. Vaishnaw highlighted the success of Semicon 1, saying that India has already secured ten manufacturing plants.
The Minister stressed that the new priority under Semicon 2.0 is on building a robust deep-tech startup environment and localizing the entire manufacturing chain, similar to the foundations seen in nations like Japan. Mr. Vaishnaw said India has moved from learning to walk to learning to run in the global tech race. Speaking to media on the sidelines of the event, Mr. Vaishnaw said that out of the 10 semiconductors plants, the production of first plant started yesterday and by the end of 2026, three more plants will be operational.
Gujarat Chief Minister along with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw formally unveiled the Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) Policy 2026-2031 during the inaugural session of the Gujarat SemiConnect Conference today. A key highlight of the policy is the establishment of a ₹1000-crore Swadeshi Anusandhan Fund to accelerate indigenous research and reduce import dependence in strategic and frontier sectors including artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum technologies, with more than 100 high-impact research projects to be supported annually.
The policy also announces the creation of Gujarat Rajya Research & Innovation Clusters (GRRIC forming a comprehensive Science and Technology cluster network beginning with the Gandhinagar Ahmedabad region and expanding to Vadodara-Surat and Rajkot-Bhavnagar-Junagadh-Jamnagar The State aims to nurture 1,00,000 skilled researche by 2030 through 250 annual JRF/SRF/PDF fellowships, a dedicated Women in Innovation Fellowships and large-scale STEM engagement initiatives for youth across the State. With more than 200 IP Facilitation Centres, Gujarat targets over 1000 intellectual property filings annually, including at least 500 patents.
