Women leaders take the stage at Semicon India 2026 to map careers and capability for India’s chip push

# What happened

# Why the panel matters India's electronics manufacturing workforce already has strong female representation at operator and shop-floor levels, but the representation at senior leadership and in the engineering pipeline remains limited. The panel was designed to address that gap by having leaders explain how they entered the field, the career choices they made and how they balanced career and family decisions. Organisers framed the conversation with students and early-career engineers in mind.

# Who spoke

• Malini Narayanamoorthi — President of Renesas India and Vice President, Renesas Electronics. She moved into the India president role in March 2026 after earlier engineering and applications roles across several companies and geographies. She has overseen Renesas' expansion of design footprints in Indian cities and partnership with the Chips to Startup programme.

• Radhika Viswanathan — Chief Operating Officer, Applied Materials India since April 2025. She manages operations across India sites, including research labs and the India Validation Center capable of processing 300 mm wafers. She previously spent close to a decade at Micron in supply-chain and planning roles and holds an MEng in Microelectronic Engineering.

• Alpa Sood — Country Manager, India at Teradyne, appointed June 2026. Based in Bengaluru, she joined as Teradyne opened its India office and set up an AI centre of excellence. Her background spans business, policy and government affairs and prior roles included leading government affairs and strategic policy at Marvell India.

# What the panel aimed to deliver

# How this fits into wider workforce efforts The panel sat alongside other workforce-focused programming at Semicon India 2026: a Workforce Development pavilion offering student mentorship and fab-process training, and a talent pillar under Semicon 2.0 — the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission announced in August 2026. The aim is to build both entry-level capacity and a pipeline for leadership across design, fabrication, equipment and testing.

# Practical takeaway for students and early-career engineers Attend mentorship sessions, seek out role models in companies building India's semiconductor value chain, and consider lateral moves across design, process, test and operations to broaden experience. The panel signalled that visible senior women leaders are available to explain how to navigate technical careers and organizational moves inside the ecosystem.