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Critical Manufacturing is preparing to demonstrate how manufacturers can use MES, industrial connectivity, manufacturing analytics and trusted AI to build more intelligent semiconductor operations at SEMICON India 2026.

The Portugal-based industrial software company will participate in the event from September 17 to 19 in collaboration with ASMPT, presenting a connected approach to semiconductor manufacturing in which production execution, equipment data, analytics and artificial intelligence operate within a common digital environment.

The demonstration comes as India's semiconductor industry moves beyond investment announcements toward the development of a broader manufacturing ecosystem. New activity is emerging across semiconductor fabrication, compound semiconductors, assembly and testing, advanced packaging and chip design. As this capacity develops, manufacturers face the challenge of establishing production systems capable of maintaining quality, traceability and operational control as facilities become increasingly complex.

Critical Manufacturing's approach places the Manufacturing Execution System at the center of a wider industrial operations platform. Rather than treating MES as an isolated production application, the company connects execution capabilities with equipment, operational data, analytics and AI.

This architecture is designed to create a continuous information flow between the shop floor and production management. Data can be captured at its source, structured within the manufacturing environment and linked to the operational context required to interpret it.

For semiconductor manufacturers, that context is particularly important. Production processes involve large quantities of equipment and process data, while quality requirements and traceability expectations continue to increase. When information is distributed across disconnected systems, engineers and production teams can spend significant time locating, validating and interpreting data before they can act on it.

A unified digital architecture can reduce that friction by bringing production information into a common operational framework.

Critical Manufacturing will illustrate this concept through live demonstrations at the ASMPT booth, showing how equipment, manufacturing processes and digital systems can interact across the production environment. The company is positioning the demonstration around the transition from conventional digital transformation toward intelligence-driven manufacturing, where data is not simply collected but used to support operational decisions.

The timing is significant for India's semiconductor ambitions. New facilities have an opportunity to establish digital production standards before legacy applications and fragmented data structures become deeply embedded in daily operations.

For a greenfield semiconductor operation, decisions about equipment connectivity, process control, data structures and traceability can influence the scalability of the factory for years. Establishing these foundations early can also make it easier to introduce additional equipment, products and production capacity without creating another layer of disconnected systems.

Critical Manufacturing argues that manufacturers should consider this digital foundation as part of the factory architecture rather than as a technology project added after production systems have already been established.

The platform is intended to connect information across equipment, systems and sites while maintaining the production context needed for analysis. This can give engineering and operations teams a more consistent view of manufacturing conditions and support faster identification of changes that could affect output or quality.

The company's AI Copilots will be another major element of the SEMICON India demonstration. Embedded within the MES environment, the AI capabilities allow users to interact with manufacturing information through natural-language queries rather than relying exclusively on specialist database knowledge or complex reporting tools.

Users can use the technology to explore production information and generate dashboards, charts and insights. For engineers and manufacturing teams, this type of interface could make operational data more accessible when investigating process changes, identifying trends or examining production performance.

The value of AI in this context is closely tied to the quality and context of the underlying manufacturing data. An AI system operating within a connected MES environment can potentially provide more useful operational insight than an isolated analytics application that has limited access to production context.

This reflects a broader development across smart manufacturing. Manufacturers are increasingly moving from basic data collection toward systems designed to interpret information and support decisions in real time.

In semiconductor production, where small process variations can have significant downstream consequences, the ability to connect process information with equipment conditions, production history and quality data can become an important part of continuous improvement.

The collaboration with ASMPT also highlights the growing relationship between manufacturing equipment and industrial software.

Semiconductor production depends on tightly coordinated interactions among process equipment, automation systems, manufacturing applications and production personnel. Treating these elements as separate technology layers can make integration more difficult as a facility expands.

A more connected equipment and software environment can provide manufacturers with greater visibility across production and create a foundation for more consistent process management.

Critical Manufacturing Managing Director for Malaysia and India Go-to-Market Weng Keong Lan said India's developing semiconductor sector has an opportunity to establish modern production foundations without carrying the same level of fragmented legacy infrastructure found in some mature manufacturing environments.

He emphasized the importance of establishing execution, connectivity and data structures early, rather than attempting to integrate them after facilities and production systems have already expanded.

That strategy could become increasingly relevant as semiconductor manufacturing in India moves from individual projects toward a wider industrial ecosystem.

For manufacturers, the challenge will not simply be adding production capacity. They will also need to maintain traceability across increasingly sophisticated processes, coordinate equipment from multiple suppliers, manage growing data volumes and support quality requirements at commercial production scale.

This creates demand for digital platforms capable of connecting operational technology with manufacturing applications without compromising control over production processes.

The concept extends beyond semiconductors. Similar requirements are emerging across electronics manufacturing, advanced packaging, medical devices, aerospace and other industries where complex production processes depend on high levels of traceability and data integrity.

However, semiconductor manufacturing places particularly strong demands on these capabilities because production involves tightly controlled processes, sophisticated equipment and extensive historical data.

At SEMICON India 2026, Critical Manufacturing will therefore position its platform as more than a conventional MES software system. The company will demonstrate an integrated model in which manufacturing execution, equipment connectivity, analytics and AI contribute to a common operational environment.

The objective is to help manufacturers move from reactive production management toward a more proactive operating model. Instead of discovering problems only after they affect quality or throughput, connected manufacturing data can help teams identify changing conditions earlier and investigate potential causes while production is still underway.

For India's emerging semiconductor manufacturing base, the ability to build this kind of infrastructure from the beginning could be particularly valuable. A scalable digital foundation can support production growth while reducing the need to repeatedly replace or integrate disconnected applications.

Visitors to SEMICON India 2026 will be able to see the platform through live demonstrations at ASMPT booth 1346 from September 17 to 19. Critical Manufacturing specialists will demonstrate how the Industrial Operations Platform can support connected production, process standardization, end-to-end traceability and AI-assisted manufacturing intelligence.

The broader message is that intelligent semiconductor manufacturing will depend on more than advanced production equipment. The digital infrastructure surrounding that equipment will play an equally important role in determining how effectively manufacturers can scale operations, manage complexity and maintain quality.

As India's semiconductor ecosystem develops, integrating manufacturing execution with connectivity, analytics and AI could become a key component of building factories designed for long-term operational resilience.

Written by: Michael Carter

Michael Carter is an industrial technology journalist with more than 13 years of experience covering MES, PLC systems, factory automation, industrial software and Industry 4.0. His reporting focuses on how manufacturers apply digital technologies to improve production visibility, equipment integration and operational performance.