Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated Zetwerk Electronics' new manufacturing facility for defence, automotive and IT hardware electronics in Bengaluru, with Karnataka minister M.B. Patil present. The minister indicated that every product from the unit will meet high quality standards and that electronic component manufacturing is expanding rapidly. He noted that 46 approvals have been granted and that Karnataka is set to receive investments exceeding Rs 100 billion (bn). The event was presented as part of efforts to bolster domestic production. The minister highlighted that the budget raised the allocation for the electronic component manufacturing scheme from Rs 220 bn to Rs 400 bn to accelerate the sector. He referred to a national production target of USD 500 bn by the 2030-2031 financial year and urged rapid progress towards that goal. He observed that Indian designers are developing complete two-nanometre chips and that equipment manufacturers have begun operations in the country, with Applied Materials and Lam Research present and a drive to attract ASML. He said commercial production is expected to begin this year and that the first commercially produced chip from a semiconductor plant should become available soon. The minister outlined that Semicon 2.0 will focus on design, equipment manufacturing, chemicals, gases, validation and yield improvement to build a sustainable semiconductor ecosystem. Emphasis was placed on ecosystem development across design and fabrication support to drive long term competitiveness. He stated a target to prepare 85,000 silicon engineers over ten years and noted that 67,000 have been trained in the first four years, signalling progress in building local skills. The minister added that with the arrival of the fab a mapped path exists from 28-nanometre to 7-nanometre as part of Silicon 2.0 and that chip design will increasingly be undertaken in India. He urged a cooperative approach among states and called for a broad vision to make India a Viksit Bharat by 2047 under the Prime Minister's guidance.