The same AI boom that is filling handsets with new features is draining the memory supply that makes cheap phones possible—and in India, the world's second-largest smartphone market, buyers are paying for both. Xiaomi India's leadership told HT Tech that prices will keep climbing through the second half of 2026 as the global chip shortage persists, even as the company doubles down on AI features it says should be felt rather than seen.

HyperVault, a Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) subsidiary, has secured 264 acres in Hyderabad to build a large AI data center campus capable of reaching 1GW of capacity. The project could strengthen India's role in global artificial intelligence infrastructure, while influencing jobs, energy demand, and digital supply chains worldwide.

India is selling its semiconductor build-out abroad as a hedge against an over-concentrated supply chain. The officials running it are unusually candid that the hedge cannot be built without the country it hedges against. Asked at a media briefing in Taipei on 4 September how New Delhi views the role of Chinese companies in India's chip and electronics supply chain, S. Krishnan, secretary of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, opened with a line that would be politically awkward in most capitals: "We need to be realistic."

A South Korean-Indian joint venture has completed a semiconductor materials plant in South Korea, aiming to strengthen regional supply chains for photoresist materials and reduce reliance on Chinese raw materials.

India has unveiled the next phase of its semiconductor policy, a move that could reshape global chip supply chains, investment flows, and talent markets. The expanded program aims to deepen local design and manufacturing capacity, while giving multinational companies and developers a larger role in one of technology's most strategic sectors.

India's market for Wi-Fi millimeter-wave (mmWave) fixed wireless access (FWA) remains at an early stage, with formal commercial standards still dependent on operators completing field trials and the country's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) advancing the regulatory process.

India's semiconductor ambitions are expanding from packaging and testing to chip design, materials, mobile devices and data centers. New investments by CG Power, Infineon, Foxconn, Samsung and LG highlight rising industrial activity, while skills shortages, environmental constraints and import dependence remain challenges. Government incentives increasingly seek deeper domestic capabilities and higher value creation.

Hon Hai Technology Group, better known as Foxconn, is expanding its global manufacturing footprint through new land acquisitions, factory development, and capacity upgrades as demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure accelerates and electronics supply chains become more geographically distributed.

CG Power and Industrial Solutions is targeting 70% utilization at its larger semiconductor packaging facility within about four years, with the unit potentially generating around US$500 million in annual revenue once it reaches scale, according to CNBC.

India's data center story has split in two. The pipeline forecasts keep getting bigger, but the money actually landing has thinned sharply since June — and the reason is no longer demand or capital availability. It is environmental clearance, temple land, water accounting, and grid load, questions that courts, local residents, and state governments are all now asking before the concrete is poured.

India's AI infrastructure push is gaining pace, with implications that extend far beyond the country's borders. According to Bloomberg, AM Intelligence has ordered 9,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin systems as global demand for advanced computing continues to strain supply, underscoring how power, data centers, and chip access are becoming strategic priorities worldwide.

India's semiconductor expansion is beginning to expose a shortage of engineers with experience in production testing, a capability that will become increasingly important as new OSAT plants and fabs move toward manufacturing, executives at Emerson's NI test and measurement business said.

India is emerging as a new battleground for South Korea's two electronics giants, with Samsung Electronics using the country as a production and supply-chain base for AI data center cooling equipment and LG Electronics investing hundreds of billions of won to build a third home appliance plant. But whether India's fast growth and huge population will translate into real earnings remains the biggest test.

India has continued to push next-generation communications infrastructure, and the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC) under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has officially released a Provisional Generic Requirement for Wi-Fi technology in the licensed 26 GHz (n258) band, opening the door for manufacturers and telecom operators to conduct field trials in real-world environments.