Uttar Pradesh cabinet amended its six-month-old Semiconductor Policy-2024 in December, loosening capital thresholds and extending fiscal windows to lure fabrication-scale investments. The revision comes as India's Union government pushes $10 billion in direct subsidies under the India Semiconductor Mission, targeting $70 billion in total ecosystem investment by 2030. No anchor tenant has publicly committed to UP's semiconductor zone in Greater Noida since the policy launched in June.
The amended framework raises the capital expenditure ceiling for Mega and Ultra Mega project classifications, extends land allocation timelines from eighteen to twenty-four months, and widens the definition of eligible semiconductor activities to include advanced packaging and testing facilities beyond pure-play fabs. UP now offers fiscal incentives matching Gujarat and Tamil Nadu—stamp duty waivers, ten-year power subsidies at ₹3.50 per unit, and fast-track environmental clearances—but lacks the established supplier ecosystems those states carry. The policy targets 15,000 direct jobs and ₹50,000 crore in capex commitments by 2027, figures that assume at least two foundries break ground before fiscal year-end March 2025.
The timing reflects mounting state-level competition for a national prize pool already spoken for. Micron's $2.75 billion assembly plant in Gujarat, Tata's $11 billion fab partnership with Powerchip in Gujarat, and CG Power's OSAT facility in Tamil Nadu collectively exhaust most of the India Semiconductor Mission's first tranche. UP's amendment is a bid for second-wave capital—likely targeting trailing-edge logic fabs serving automotive and industrial clients, where Chinese foundries still command 38 percent global share and geopolitical rewiring creates openings. The state's proximity to Delhi and established automotive manufacturing in Greater Noida offers logistical weight, but the amended policy lacks binding agreements or memoranda with any chip equipment maker, a gap that separates aspiration from actuality.
Allocators should track three events through March 2025: land parcel assignments in the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority semiconductor zone, any announced partnerships between UP andTooling or materials suppliers like Applied Materials or Tokyo Electron, and the Union government's release of the second ISM tranche, expected late Q1. If no named chipmaker files an Intent to Invest by February, UP's policy becomes a template without a tenant—a risk given that fab site selection typically follows eighteen to thirty-six months of due diligence, not policy publication dates.
The revised policy is public positioning ahead of Union Budget 2025 in February, when states expect clarity on extended Production Linked Incentive allocations for semiconductors. UP is angling for federal co-investment, but the state has yet to demonstrate it can compete with the entrenched semiconductor infrastructure Karnataka and Maharashtra built over two decades of OSAT and design work.