India's Digital Revolution: Minister Vaishnaw Showcases Homegrown 2nm Chips at NDTV World Summit 2025

At the NDTV World Summit in Delhi today, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted India's remarkable digital-led growth initiatives during a conversation with NDTV's Vishnu Som.

Speaking from New Delhi, the Minister emphasized three key pillars driving India's digital revolution: digital credit systems, high-speed mobile data infrastructure, and advanced large language models (LLMs).

In a compelling demonstration, Vaishnaw showcased a palm-sized homegrown semiconductor wafer that represents India's growing capability to compete with global market leaders in chip manufacturing.

The Minister stressed the critical importance of data sovereignty, declaring, "Data is the new oil. Data centers are the new refineries in today's evolving economy." He emphasized that India must control its technological destiny to ensure the country's talented workforce finds opportunities domestically.

Vaishnaw highlighted India's impressive semiconductor design capabilities during Day 2 of the summit. "We have a very significant talent base that has given us a unique strength. Already 20 percent of global design engineering talent is based in India," he stated.

The Minister revealed that India has made remarkable progress in chip technology, noting, "Today we are designing chips of 2 nanometers in our country. Earlier it used to be 5 nanometers, 7 nanometers. Now 2 nanometer chips are here; they are the most complex of chips, the smallest. Those are now designed in India."

To illustrate the complexity of semiconductor manufacturing, Vaishnaw presented a homegrown semiconductor wafer to the audience. "This is a very complex industry because the magnitude and dimensions at which we have to work and the complexity are really, really difficult. So, a chip can be extremely small, you can't even see it with a microscope. It's 10,000 times smaller than human hair," he explained.

He compared chip fabrication to constructing an entire city on a tiny wafer. "On this, building a complete city which will have its own plumbing, its own heating, its own electrical network, its own circuits... it's a very, very complex thing," the Minister elaborated while holding the wafer.

Vaishnaw underscored the precision required in semiconductor manufacturing, sharing an anecdote about the industry's sensitivity: "It was a loss of $200 million" when power went off for just five minutes at one facility. He added, "That kind of complexity is there and the chemicals and gases which are used are extremely pure, ultra-pure chemicals and gases, 500-plus chemical parts per billion purity."

The NDTV World Summit 2025 is organized around the theme 'Edge of the Unknown: Risk. Resolve. Renewal.' This two-day gathering brings together diverse global leaders to explore boundaries in pursuit of a more conscious collective future.

The 2025 edition features an extraordinary assembly of minds including heads of state, cultural icons, business architects, innovators, and thought leaders engaged in dialogue focused on navigating complexity with clarity and conscience.