"India's semiconductor ambitions must move from ecosystem creation to ecosystem deepening." Discuss this shift in light of NITI Aayog's 2026 roadmap and ISM 2.0.

Semiconductors are the foundational input of the digital economy and, increasingly, of national security. NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Hub roadmap, "Future of India's Semiconductor Industry" (May 2026), explicitly frames India's next decade as a move from ecosystem creation — attracting investment and building foundational fab/ATMP capacity — to ecosystem deepening across design, materials, packaging, talent and R&D [1].

Why creation alone is insufficient

• Foundational capacity attracts assembly-stage value but leaves India dependent on imported equipment, materials and design IP — the high-value segments of the chain [3].
• Investment-led incentives cannot by themselves generate domestic technological sovereignty; supply-chain shocks and export controls hit at the materials and tooling layer.

Contours of the deepening shift

• Capability over capacity: the roadmap prioritises advanced OSAT packaging, compound semiconductors and wide-bandgap materials, adopting a "More-than-Moore" strategy of dominance in mature logic nodes rather than chasing bleeding-edge nodes alone [1].
• Full-stack IP: ISM 2.0, announced in Union Budget 2026-27, targets domestic manufacture of semiconductor equipment and materials and design of full-stack Indian semiconductor IP [2][3].
• People and partnership: ₹1,000 crore for FY 2026-27 is anchored on industry-led research and training centres for a future-ready workforce [3].
• Institutional depth: the roadmap's five pillars — Pioneering, Policy & Investment, Production, People, Partnership — stress long-term capital mobilisation and governance to sustain momentum [1].

Strategic dimension

• A USD 120–150 billion ecosystem by 2035 positions India as trusted capacity amid China+1 diversification and reshaped global chip supply chains [1].
• Deepening converts semiconductors from an industrial input into a strategic national capability underpinning economic resilience and digital sovereignty [3].

The shift is therefore one of ambition, not merely of scale: from hosting production to owning capability. Sustained execution — steady long-horizon capital, MeitY-industry coordination on skilling, and secure access to critical minerals — will determine whether India converts this roadmap into durable advantage. Anchored in Atmanirbhar Bharat, deepening makes self-reliance a matter of technological depth rather than output volume.