Kaynes Semicon’s strategic partnerships and technology roadmap

Shipra Sinha, Senior Analyst- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG) at CyberMedia Research (CMR) interacted with Raghu Panicker, CEO, Kaynes Semicon.

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Kaynes Semicon, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kaynes Technology India, is steadily reinforcing its position as a crucial enabler in India’s semiconductor manufacturing value chain. Specialising in outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services alongside advanced packaging solutions, the company is aligning strategic alliances, phased technology adoption, and significant capacity investments to serve both domestic and global markets.

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A major milestone in its growth trajectory came with the Union Cabinet’s approval of a Rs. 3,307 crore OSAT facility in Sanand, Gujarat. With an initial capacity to produce up to 6.3 million chips per day, the plant is designed to cater to high-reliability markets such as automotive, industrial, data centres, aerospace, defence, and consumer electronics. The move reflects a clear intent to reduce import dependence, strengthen India’s manufacturing foothold, and position the country as a competitive OSAT hub in Asia.

Strategic Direction

Kaynes Semicon’s ambitions are anchored in a set of defined objectives. The company aims to establish a USD 300 million semiconductor business within four to five years, contributing significantly, between 20 and 30 percent, to the group’s overall revenues. This aligns with the parent organisation’s aspiration to transform into a USD 1 billion enterprise within two years. Alongside revenue growth, Kaynes is preparing for a future public listing to unlock investment potential and support expansion. Another strategic pillar involves consolidating leadership in advanced semiconductor packaging for compute and storage applications, areas critical to the demands of data-intensive industries. To underpin these efforts, Kaynes is building a highly skilled engineering base of 1,000 to 1,500 professionals, forming the backbone of India’s first advanced packaging ecosystem. The immediate operational goal is to deliver its first packaged semiconductor chip sample to a global customer by mid-August, signalling readiness to compete at international standards.

Technology Roadmap

The company has adopted a phased approach to capability building, starting with mature, lower-complexity packaging technologies. This initial stage allows Kaynes to establish robust operational efficiency, achieve high yields, and build customer trust in sectors such as automotive, industrial, and consumer electronics, markets that value reliability and cost-effectiveness. In parallel, the company is preparing to scale towards advanced packaging solutions, incorporating 2.5D and 3D integration, chiplet architectures, and high-density interconnects. These capabilities target performance-driven applications such as AI accelerators, data centre compute, and storage modules. This gradual evolution ensures that early revenue streams from stable market segments help fund the transition into more sophisticated, higher-value domains.

Partnerships and Collaborative Ecosystem

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Strategic collaborations are central to Kaynes Semicon’s growth blueprint and serve as levers for technology acquisition, supply chain resilience, and market expansion. The company’s association with 7 Rays Semiconductors spans design and packaging for high-growth sectors such as AI, telecom, automotive, and IoT. Partnerships with Singapore’s LightSpeed Photonics and global players like Aptos Technology and Globetronics Technology strengthen assembly, testing, and high-speed interconnect capabilities. Ties with Delvitech bring AI-driven inspection to enhance quality control, while agreements with Mitsui & Co. secure critical raw materials.

Kaynes also works closely with L&T Semiconductor Technologies on specialised power modules and has entered a multi-year arrangement with Alpha & Omega Semiconductor (AOS) to ensure a steady market for power MOSFETs and related devices, along with technology transfer and workforce training benefits. Additional collaborations with Atomberg in the consumer electronics space and Oman’s Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology for skill development broaden both market reach and talent pipelines. Collectively, these alliances accelerate Kaynes’ integration into the global semiconductor value chain and enable it to deliver advanced solutions from India.

Manufacturing Infrastructure

The Sanand OSAT facility is the operational anchor of Kaynes’ semiconductor ambitions. Located in Gujarat, it benefits from one of the country’s most proactive electronics-focused policies, with the Gujarat State Electronics Mission providing skilled manpower and infrastructure support. Government capital subsidies of up to 70% mitigate the financial burden of what is inherently a capital-intensive business. With its state-of-the-art equipment and large-scale packaging capacity, the facility is designed not only to serve domestic demand but to enhance India’s export capabilities in semiconductor assembly, packaging, and testing.

Innovation Agenda

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Innovation spans three focal areas: process, assembly, and testing. The company is working on advanced bonding methods, underfill technologies, and thermal management solutions to improve overall device reliability. Innovative package designs and faster prototyping enhance product development cycles, while simulation-driven test methodologies are being implemented to validate reliability and identify defects early in the lifecycle. Initially, Kaynes is adhering closely to customer-defined packaging processes to ensure quality compliance, but over time, it plans to develop proprietary packaging intellectual property as a differentiator in the global marketplace.

Market Focus and Growth Segments

The automotive sector represents a high-value growth vertical for Kaynes, offering stable and long-term partnerships, albeit with rigorous qualification timelines. The industrial sector presents opportunities for faster adoption due to shorter cycles, while the rise in global data traffic and AI workloads is driving demand in the data centre segment for high-performance compute and storage solutions. Beyond these, Kaynes anticipates future expansion into railways, space-based systems, and sensor devices—segments that align with India’s infrastructure and defence priorities.

Financial Outlook and Risk Mitigation

Kaynes is taking a capital-efficient approach to expansion, balancing aggressive capability building with prudent financial management. Government subsidies provide a significant buffer against capital risk, while careful sequencing of equipment procurement, cost-effective recruitment, and phased capacity ramp-up contribute to sustainable growth. The company projects a break-even timeline of approximately two and a half years, supported by early revenues from legacy technology-based packaging before moving fully into advanced offerings.

Role in India’s Semiconductor Future

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In the long term, Kaynes Semicon seeks to play a defining role in positioning India as a competitive global semiconductor manufacturing hub, alongside initiatives from domestic leaders like Tata and Reliance. By creating an integrated OSAT ecosystem, connecting design to final product manufacturing, and pursuing both organic and inorganic expansion strategies, the company is charting a course towards its USD 1 billion target, with aspirations to scale to USD 5 billion in the future.

From sustained investment in technology and infrastructure to an unwavering emphasis on quality and innovation, Kaynes Semicon’s trajectory illustrates how disciplined execution, strong partnerships, and a clear technology roadmap can enable India to capture a greater share of the semiconductor manufacturing value chain.