India has so far stuttered towards its ambition of becoming a global semiconductor superpower in a series of steps and setbacks. However, the country received a significant boost during President Biden’s recent visit with agreement to set up a joint chip manufacturing plant in the country. The jointly developed plant will be notable for being a mixed-material fabricator specializing in chips for military and critical telecoms infrastructure, with plans for it to produce infrared, gallium nitride and silicon carbide semiconductors. In this sense it will be cutting edge, but there is no indication at present that it will progress towards the leading chip process designs where TSMC and Samsung reign supreme. The indications are that the US is more intent…