New Delhi, May 25 (IANS) India needs a coordinated national strategy combining resilient power system, competitive semiconductor market and computing supply chain for large‑scale AI infrastructure deployment, a new report said on Monday.

The report from Applied Materials and AMCHAM India advocated a framework with three pillars — a stronger, more resilient electricity grid for AI workloads, an energy‑efficient computing supply chain from algorithms to materials, and development of globally competitive semiconductor markets.

The computing supply chain should span from algorithms and system design to semiconductor equipment and materials, whereas markets will help translate infrastructure capability into sustainable economic growth.

As India scales AI and semiconductor ambitions, it has structural advantages such as a large engineering talent pool, a digital economy of over one billion users and policy support, said the report.

India’s policy framework has mobilized capital and institutional support for both AI and semiconductors.

The report, however, flagged that AI ambition is constrained by physical infrastructure. Advanced computing workloads require large, continuous and reliable supplies of electricity.

“We urge energy policymakers to consider that the electricity grid is the single largest constraint on India’s AI ambitions. Non-fossil sources represent over 52 per cent of installed capacity,” said Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM India.

The report’s central proposition was that AI infrastructure must be planned and executed as a connected national system.

“Semiconductor design and manufacturing, compute deployment, research and innovation, and power generation and delivery are interdependent. Weakness in any one layer constrains the entire system; strength across all layers enables scale, efficiency, and resilience,” the report detailed.

India’s planned fabrication capacity with Rs 1.6 lakh crore in investments under the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) must be supplemented with deeper know-how, the report urged.

“ISM 2.0’s explicit focus on indigenous equipment and materials is the strategy. We urge that this be prioritised with the same urgency as fab expansion itself,” said Ranjana Khanna.

—IANS

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