Gujarat Permits Sanand Semiconductor Facility to Operate 12-Hour Shifts
A quiet policy signature in Gandhinagar just changed how India’s chip factories will run their production floors. On August 19, 2026, the Gujarat government gave Micron Semiconductor Technology India Private Limited’s Sanand plant the green light to run 12-hour work shifts, a first for the state and a move that could reshape how every semiconductor unit in the region schedules its workforce going forward.
This isn’t just an administrative footnote. It’s a signal that Gujarat is willing to bend its own labour framework to keep pace with the round-the-clock demands of chip manufacturing, an industry where machines rarely stop and downtime is measured in lost revenue, not just lost hours. For anyone tracking India’s semiconductor ambitions, this approval is worth understanding in detail.
What Exactly Did Gujarat Approve?
The state government has permitted Micron’s Sanand facility to run shifts of up to 12 hours a day, while keeping the total weekly working limit capped at 48 hours. In practice, this means workers could move from the traditional three-shift, eight-hour rotation to a two-shift structure, each stretching across 12 hours. The approval was granted under the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSH) Code, 2020, a labour law that came into force nationally on November 21, 2025.
The OSH Code gives individual states room to exempt specific factories from certain provisions, provided safeguards remain in place and the weekly hour cap isn’t breached. Gujarat has now used that flexibility for the first time, and Micron’s Sanand unit becomes the test case. Officials have framed it as a targeted step rather than a blanket change across all factories in the state, though it opens the door for similar requests from other semiconductor and electronics units operating nearby.
Why Semiconductor Plants Push for Longer Shifts
Chip assembly, testing, and packaging operations don’t pause easily. Cleanrooms need constant environmental control, sensitive equipment often runs continuous processes that can’t be interrupted mid-cycle, and shift handovers themselves introduce risk if not managed carefully. Fewer, longer shifts can mean fewer handovers, less disruption to delicate processes, and tighter coordination between teams handling equipment that costs crores to calibrate.
There’s also a talent and logistics angle. Semiconductor assembly, test, and packaging (ATMP) work requires specialized training, and constantly rotating large numbers of workers through short shifts adds overhead. A 12-hour structure, even with fewer total shifts, can simplify staffing patterns for a plant that’s scaling production. Micron’s Sanand unit has already moved from groundbreaking to commercial shipment of memory modules in a relatively short span, and matching shift patterns to its production rhythm appears to be part of keeping that momentum going.
Gujarat’s Bigger Semiconductor Push
This decision doesn’t exist in isolation. Gujarat currently hosts the largest share of India’s approved semiconductor projects, with facilities clustered around Sanand and the Dholera Special Investment Region. Alongside Micron’s memory packaging unit, the state is home to Kaynes Semicon’s OSAT facility focused on power modules used in electric vehicles and industrial systems, and CG Semi’s logic chip packaging plant developed with Japan’s Renesas Electronics.
The state rolled out a dedicated Semiconductor Policy back in 2022, one of the earliest such policies among Indian states, offering incentives designed to pull global chipmakers toward Gujarat over competing hubs. Allowing extended shift flexibility fits into that same playbook: it’s less about changing labour rules for their own sake and more about removing operational friction for an industry the state has bet heavily on. With India targeting a spot among the world’s leading chip-producing nations by the early 2030s, every operational adjustment that helps a flagship plant run smoother tends to get noticed by policymakers watching from other states.
What This Means for Workers and the Industry Ahead
Longer shifts always raise a natural question: what happens to the people on the floor? The Gujarat government has been clear that the weekly cap of 48 hours stays untouched, meaning a shift to 12-hour blocks would typically translate into four working days followed by a longer break, rather than more total hours logged over a week. That structure is common in continuous-process industries worldwide, including oil refining, steel, and parts of electronics manufacturing, and is usually paired with overtime rules and rest-interval safeguards under the OSH Code.
For the broader industry, this approval will likely be watched closely by other semiconductor and electronics manufacturers setting up in India. If Micron’s experience with the new shift pattern goes smoothly, and reported output and safety compliance remain steady, similar exemptions could be requested by other ATMP and OSAT units in Sanand and Dholera. That would mark a shift, quite literally, in how India’s newest manufacturing sector organizes its workforce, moving closer to global norms in continuous-operation industries while still working within the country’s existing labour protections.
