India Just Broke Ground on Its First 3D Glass Chip Packaging Facility. Here's Why the Back End of Semiconductors Is the New Front Line.

On April 19, 2026, the foundation stone for India's first advanced 3D glass semiconductor packaging unit was laid at Info Valley, Bhubaneswar — the first facility of its kind on the subcontinent, and only the second outside of the United States and Japan operating at this technology level.

₹1,943 Cr	₹799 Cr	50 Mn	Aug 2028
Total project outlay	SM fiscal support — central govt.	Assembled units capacity per year	Commercial production target

What was laid at Info Valley on April 19

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi laid the foundation stone for the Heterogeneous Integration Packaging Solutions (HIPSPL) facility at Info Valley in Khordha district, Bhubaneswar. The project is promoted by 3D Glass Solutions Inc. (3DGS), a US-based semiconductor company, through its wholly owned Indian subsidiary. Global technology leaders including Intel, Lockheed Martin, and Applied Materials are associated with the project's underlying packaging technologies.

The facility will produce 70,000 glass panels annually, 50 million assembled units, and approximately 13,000 advanced 3D Heterogeneous Integration (3DHI) modules per year at full capacity. Commercial production is targeted for August 2028, with full-scale output by August 2030. The chips produced will serve AI accelerators, defence electronics, 5G/6G infrastructure, automotive radar, data centres, and aerospace systems.

Why packaging — and why this matters now

For most of the past decade, India's semiconductor ambitions have been directed at the front end — fabs that fabricate chips. The ISM 2.0 deep dive we published in February laid out why India's path to semiconductor self-reliance runs through the full value chain, not just fabrication. What the Odisha facility represents is a deliberate move into the back end: advanced packaging, the process that transforms bare silicon dies into usable components and, increasingly, determines how fast and power-efficient a finished chip is.

As Moore's Law — the doubling of transistor density every two years — slows at sub-5 nanometre nodes, the industry has pivoted to heterogeneous integration: stacking multiple specialised chiplets (logic, memory, I/O) onto a single package using advanced substrates. Glass substrates, unlike the conventional organic or silicon interposers, offer lower signal loss, better thermal management, and the ability to embed components within the substrate itself. Intel's glass substrate programme, announced in 2023, identified this as the technology pathway for the 2030s. The Odisha facility is aligned with precisely that roadmap.

The financing structure

The total project cost of ₹1,943.53 crore is being co-funded: the central government's India Semiconductor Mission is contributing ₹799 crore in fiscal support, and the Odisha state government is adding approximately ₹399.5 crore — together covering nearly 60 percent of the project cost. The remaining investment comes from 3DGS and HIPSPL's private capital. The project received Union Cabinet approval and moved to groundbreaking within months — a turnaround that Union Minister Vaishnaw highlighted as evidence of fast-track implementation under the ISM framework.

Odisha's semiconductor moment

The Odisha government's IT, AI, GCC and Semiconductor Policies 2025 have been a deliberate attempt to position the state as a technology manufacturing destination beyond its traditional strengths in minerals and metals. The state now hosts two approved semiconductor projects under ISM: SiCSem's compound semiconductor fabrication unit, and now the 3DGS glass packaging facility. It is the only state in India where both a compound semiconductor fab and a 3D glass substrate packaging facility are being established — a position of unique complementarity in the national semiconductor value chain.

"India's first glass packaging unit is less a finished triumph than a strategic down-payment — staking a claim in the part of chipmaking where tomorrow's value lies, even as the harder work of building an ecosystem, a skilled workforce and reliable yields has only begun." — Anantam IAS analysis, Apr 2026

The gap that remains

The Odisha groundbreaking is the visible event. But two years of construction lie between the foundation stone and commercial production, and the broader semiconductor ecosystem challenge — specialised workforce, supply chain for specialty gases and raw materials, upstream design capability — is still in early development. ISM 2.0, announced in Union Budget 2026 with a ₹1,000 crore allocation for FY 2026-27, is focused on exactly this: equipment, materials, full-stack Indian IP, and industry-led R&D. The 10 semiconductor projects approved under ISM 1.0 across six states represent ₹1.6 lakh crore in committed investment. The Odisha facility is one piece of that larger structure — and among its most technically ambitious.

Sources

1. PIB — Groundbreaking of India's First Advanced 3D Semiconductor Packaging Unit, Apr 19 2026 — https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2253549

2. The Week — India's first advanced 3D chip packaging unit comes to Odisha, Apr 20 2026 — https://www.theweek.in/news/sci-tech/2026/04/20/india-3d-chip-packaging-odisha.html

3. Organiser — Odisha Hosts Groundbreaking, Apr 20 2026 — https://organiser.org/2026/04/20/349459/bharat/odisha-hosts-groundbreaking-indias-1st-advanced-3d-semiconductor-packaging-unit-major-boost-to-ai-5g-defence-tech/

4. ISM.gov.in — India Semiconductor Mission official site — https://ism.gov.in

5. PIB — ISM 2.0 Budget 2026 announcement — https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2224839