en.Wedoany.com Reported - Durgapur in West Bengal, India, plans to establish the state's first semiconductor manufacturing hub, driving the local transformation from a steel and coal center to a "Silicon Valley." State Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta outlined the roadmap for the proposed technology hub, which is planned to house a new IT park, artificial intelligence units, and hyperscale data centers to attract future investment.
A semiconductor industrial hub is a cluster of facilities, research laboratories, and logistics infrastructure built around chip design and manufacturing, where silicon wafers are processed into microchips, creating high-value jobs for engineers, technicians, and scientists. The central Indian government has previously promoted such hubs in Dholera and Sanand in Gujarat, as well as in Bengaluru.
Durgapur, traditionally a hub for state-owned enterprises in steel, coal, mining equipment, fertilizers, and ophthalmic glass, is currently grappling with a global slowdown. The city has five industrial parks managed by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, housing many private factories, but no electronics manufacturing plant yet. Although this industrial city has never had a tradition of semiconductor manufacturing, it is rapidly emerging as a new center for semiconductor research.
In August 2025, students from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Durgapur designed India's first indigenous microchip for remote radio applications. NIT Director Arvind Choubey stated that the microchip "Asynchronous Fifo Vikram" won praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a national expo held in Delhi in August of the same year. Choubey said, "During this period, we fabricated five microchips, which have been sent to Bengaluru for critical testing. This new budget allocation for the local semiconductor unit will help explore new avenues for employment and dynamic research."
N C Murmu, Director of the Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CMERI) in Durgapur, stated that the budget announcement to establish a semiconductor center here is an extremely encouraging step to strengthen the state's advanced manufacturing and technology ecosystem, positioning Durgapur as a key hub for innovation, high-skilled employment, and industrial growth. Ratan Agarwal, President of the Durgapur Small Industries Association, noted that many large local state-owned enterprises are struggling with the downturn in international markets, and expects such soft units could help Durgapur develop further.
In February 2026, the federal budget announced the construction of a comprehensive East Coast Industrial Corridor, with an interconnection node in Durgapur, estimated to cost 30 billion Indian rupees, managed by the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust. Supriyo Ganguly, Advisor to the North Durgapur Industrial Association, stated that these initiatives will create new greenfield industrial zones and nodes, aiming to soon compete with top manufacturing and investment destinations.
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