Tata Group's chairman publicly stated that the group would begin its chipmaking journey at the 28-nanometer node. That is what Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, told shareholders in the company's 2025 annual report. A 28nm chip - the measure refers to the width of the transistors on the chip - is still widely used in industries like automotive and consumer electronics. It is not cutting edge, but it is solid and reliable.
Those are older, simpler technologies used for low-end industrial and automotive chips in things like sensors and power management. The company says it will still offer chips from 28nm all the way up to 110nm, but the first wafers off the line will be the least advanced.
A Tata Electronics spokesperson said the plan "was always to start with 55nm and 90nm, followed by 28nm". Eric Tang, a spokesperson for Tata's Taiwan-based partner Powerchip Semiconductor (PSMC), explained that bringing new technology into a factory is usually gradual. "It is common that the introduction of the technology platform will be gradual, starting with more mature nodes," he said.
Translation: Even a giant like Tata Group, with decades of manufacturing experience in everything from cars to steel, is still learning how to make chips.
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The shift in technology is not the only timeline that changed. Building a chip factory from scratch in a country that has never had a large-scale semiconductor fab comes with huge early-stage challenges. Infrastructure, cleanrooms, ultra-pure water, stable power, and a skilled workforce - none of that appears overnight.
The Indian government is putting serious money behind the effort. On July 16, 2026, the government authorized an additional 1.28 trillion rupees ($13.3 billion) to fund semiconductor design, production machinery, and supply-chain infrastructure.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is counting on Tata to reduce India's reliance on imported chips. Right now, the country buys almost all of its semiconductors from abroad. Getting a domestic industry off the ground is a national priority, and the price tag keeps growing.
For investors, the story here is not about one delay or one older node. It is about the sheer difficulty of starting a chip industry from nothing - and the government spending that tries to overcome it.
Why does it matter? India is a huge and growing market for chips, from cars and phones to industrial equipment. But the country has no real chip manufacturing base today. Every delay at Tata pushes back the day when Indian companies can buy chips made at home instead of importing them.
That creates opportunity and risk. Companies in the global chip supply chain - equipment makers, design software firms, materials suppliers - could benefit from years of Indian government spending. At the same time, a slower ramp in India means demand for imported chips stays higher longer, which is good for established chipmakers in Taiwan, South Korea, and the U.S.
For your portfolio, the lesson is in the timeline. Government-backed projects like this take years, often longer than promised. Betting on a quick breakthrough in Indian chipmaking is probably a bet that will take a while to pay off.
But the billions being poured in are real, and they are not going away. The companies that supply the tools and know-how for these long, hard projects are often the ones that come out ahead - even when the headlines focus on delays.
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