Human capital infrastructure for India's semiconductor, EV, and solar manufacturing sectors.
The Opportunity
India's manufacturing ambition has a workforce problem.
₹1.6L CrCommitted capex across semicon, EV, and solar — approved and under deployment
300K+Skilled worker shortfall in semiconductor ATMP and EV battery assembly today
5Semiconductor fab and ATMP plants announced or under construction by 2027
5.3MGreen-collar manufacturing workers India needs by 2030
What We Do
"We are not a placement agency. We are not a skilling NGO. We are the operating system between a plant's headcount plan and the talent that doesn't exist yet."
Full lifecycle ownership — from sourcing raw talent to sustaining placement for 12 months post-joining
Anchor-funded model — the manufacturer pays, the government subsidises, the worker pays zero — always
Sector-specific curriculum co-designed with the anchor, certified by NSDC and sector skill councils
Where We Operate
Four sectors. One platform. Semiconductor first.
Beachhead · Active
Semiconductor ATMP
Chip packaging, testing, and advanced assembly — India's first wave of fab infrastructure. Our beachhead and deepest domain.
Tata Electronics · Micron · CG-Renesas · Kaynes
Expanding · 2026–27
EV & Battery
Cell assembly, BMS integration, and module-level workforce for India's EV manufacturing push. High skill adjacency to semicon.
HCL-Foxconn · Expanding
Expanding · 2027
Solar Manufacturing
Module assembly, cell stringing, and quality control for India's 500 GW solar target. Most geographically distributed sector.
Anchor partnerships in development
Horizon · 2027+
Green Infrastructure
Civil, electrical, and systems workforce for the broader green manufacturing buildout. Long-term platform opportunity.
Not yet active
A Note from the Founder
"We are not building a skilling company. We are building the human capital layer that every anchor manufacturer in India will need but no one has built yet. The window is 18 months. After that, the large staffing firms arrive."
— Ankush Gupta, CEO & Co-Founder, Chip Forge
About
The thesis, the name, and the people building it.
The Thesis
Three manufacturing waves. One workforce gap. One platform.
India is simultaneously executing three of the largest industrial policy bets in its history — semiconductor manufacturing, EV and battery production, and utility-scale solar. Each requires a category of worker that does not currently exist at the required scale: technically literate, plant-ready, sector-certified, and sourced from Tier-2 and Tier-3 India.
The traditional response — NGO-led skilling, government ITI programs, generic placement agencies — has not solved this. It was not designed to. It was designed for a different era of manufacturing, a different scale of need, and a different kind of anchor employer.
Chip Forge is built for this specific moment. We operate at the intersection of industrial policy and human capital — not as a training company, not as a staffing firm, but as a full-stack workforce platform that owns the Source → Train → Certify → Place → Sustain lifecycle end-to-end.
The model is anchor-funded and government-subsidised. The worker pays zero. The manufacturer gets a certified, plant-ready pipeline. The government's skilling mandates get measurable outcomes. We build the operating infrastructure in between.
The Name
Forge. Not factory. Not platform. Forge.
"A forge is where raw material becomes something purposeful under heat and pressure. Not assembled. Not processed. Forged. Chip Forge does the same for people — taking raw technical talent from India's engineering colleges, polytechnics, and ITIs, and shaping it into the certified, plant-ready workforce that India's semiconductor and green manufacturing sectors need."
The chip in the name is a reference to the semiconductor — our beachhead sector. As the platform expands into EV and solar, the forge metaphor holds: the process is the same, the raw material is the same, only the crucible changes.
The Founding Team
Built by operators, not academics.
Ankush Gupta
CEO & Co-Founder
The architect of the Chip Forge idea. Ankush saw the workforce gap in India's manufacturing buildout before it became obvious — and designed a model to close it. A decade across energy, logistics, and AI gave him a sharp understanding of how large enterprises scale and where they break. He founded Chip Forge on the conviction that the right workforce platform has to be built with industry, not sold to it after the fact.
The execution backbone of Chip Forge. Prashant brings a deep, ground-level understanding of India's education and skilling ecosystem — how institutions work, where students come from, and what it actually takes to deliver training at scale across Tier-2 and Tier-3 India. Where Ankush architects the model, Prashant builds it. He owns everything from institution partnerships to cohort delivery to what happens on the plant floor after placement.
We partner with engineering colleges, polytechnics, and ITIs within 200 km of an anchor cluster — prioritising EEE, ECE, and Mechanical trades. Year 1 target: 200 institution partnerships across semiconductor and EV beachhead geographies. Sourcing universe: 8,264 engineering colleges · 3,400 polytechnics · 14,000+ ITIs across India.
02Train
12-week sector-specific curriculum co-designed with the anchor manufacturer. For semiconductor ATMP: cleanroom protocol, wire bonding, ATE testing, optical inspection, failure analysis basics. Curriculum is co-owned with the anchor — this is not off-the-shelf content. Training happens at or near the anchor facility where possible.
03Certify
NSDC and sector skill council recognised certification. Endorsed by the anchor manufacturer on a formal MoU. The certification is what differentiates a Chip Forge graduate from a raw hire — it signals plant-readiness to any anchor in the sector.
04Place
Direct pipeline to the plant floor. Guaranteed minimum CTC for the placed worker. Placement within 8–12 weeks of training completion. Zero fee for the worker — always, in every cohort, in every sector.
05Sustain
12 months post-placement mentoring and on-the-job check-ins. Drives the retention bonus from the anchor and generates net-promoter pull for the next sourcing cohort. Sustain is what turns a placement company into a workforce infrastructure partner.
The Payer Model
Three stakeholders. One aligned incentive structure.
Measurable skilling outcomes against national targets. ATMP and green manufacturing workforce built in alignment with NSDC and PMKVY mandates.
The Worker
Zero. Always.
Sector certification. Guaranteed placement. Minimum CTC. 12-month post-placement mentoring. A structured path from college to plant floor.
"The worker never pays. This is not a concession. It is the architecture of the model — the only way to source from Tier-2 and Tier-3 India at the scale India's manufacturing ambition requires."
Portfolio
Sectors, anchors, and the sourcing universe.
Sectors
Four sectors. One platform. Semiconductor first.
Beachhead · Active
Semiconductor ATMP
India's semiconductor ATMP buildout is the most capital-intensive industrial policy bet in the country's history — ₹1.26L Cr committed, five plants by 2027. The workforce gap is structural: ATMP requires technically literate workers with cleanroom discipline and sector-specific certification that does not exist in India's current labour pool. Chip Forge's beachhead is here. We are building the first certified ATMP workforce pipeline in the country.
India's EV manufacturing push is creating demand for a new category of worker — cell assembly technicians, BMS integration specialists, and module-level quality operators. The skill adjacency to semiconductor ATMP is high; our sourcing and certification infrastructure transfers directly. Expansion planned for FY27 with anchor partnerships in development.
Anchors: HCL-Foxconn · Expanding
Expanding · 2027
Solar Manufacturing
India's 500 GW solar target by 2030 requires a significant module assembly and cell stringing workforce. Solar manufacturing is the most geographically distributed of our three primary sectors — which means our institution network is more valuable here than anywhere else. Anchor partnerships in active development.
Anchors: In development
Horizon · 2027+
Green Infrastructure
The broader green manufacturing buildout — industrial civil, electrical systems, and plant infrastructure — represents a long-term workforce opportunity. Chip Forge will enter this segment once the semiconductor and EV platforms are at scale. The sourcing and certification infrastructure built in earlier phases transfers directly.
Anchors: Not yet active
Sourcing Universe
India has 25,000+ institutions. We start with 200.
8,264Engineering Colleges
3,400Polytechnics
14,000+Industrial Training Institutes
Year 1 target: 200 institution partnerships, concentrated within 200 km of active anchor clusters in Gujarat (Sanand, Dholera), Assam (Morigaon), and UP (Jewar/Greater Noida corridor). Institutions are selected on EEE/ECE/Mechanical programme strength, proximity to anchor, and placement track record.
Anchor Manufacturers
The anchors define the curriculum. The curriculum creates the pipeline.
Anchor relationships are built on formal MoUs. The anchor co-designs the training curriculum, provides facility access where possible, and commits to a minimum cohort intake. This is not a vendor relationship. It is a workforce infrastructure partnership.
Contact
We are talking to anchor manufacturers, institution partners, policy teams, and investors.
If you are building India's manufacturing future, we should meet.
