Ashlee VanceNYT Best Seller | Reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek

The Rise Of Manufacturing In India #manufacturing #cnc #india

30 Sept 2026 · 2 min

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1:38

In this on‑site video, the presenter visits Ethereal Machines in Bangalore, where the company manufactures 5‑axis CNC machines and now primarily produces metal parts for export. Originally focused on selling CNC machines, the firm pivoted to mass‑producing its own machines to meet demand for parts, with about 70% of output shipped to the United States and Europe for high‑tech sectors such as semiconductors, defense, and healthcare. The speaker notes that while CNC equipment is traditionally sourced from Germany and Japan, Ethereal Machines is effectively the only home‑grown Indian 5‑axis CNC manufacturer (aside from a U.S. entrant), a capability achieved after roughly 12 years of development. The segment highlights the strategic importance of this capability for India’s hardware ecosystem and teases a longer video and CEO interview forthcoming on the channel.

Chapters

Okay, I am here at Ethereal Machines in Bangalore, and they actually make these 5-axis CNC machines here. So they have just over the side, there's a spot where they're making these machines, and then now they're pumping out metal parts, um, that you buy. So I think they originally were going to sell the machines. Now they're making as many CNC machines as they can just to make parts. I think 70% of their parts go overseas— the US, Europe— stuff like semiconductors, defense. I think healthcare is another big market for them. We got a giant Indian flag up here. But yeah, usually CNC machines, which are used to cut metal and are sort of like the workhorse of the hardware industry, are usually made in Germany and Japan. And as far as I'm aware, this is India's only homegrown— oh, there's a US company I think that makes them, but this is India's only homegrown CNC manufacturing company. It took them about 12 years to dial this all in. It's the 5-axis machines. They're super hard to build, but they've got room after room full of these things. We'll have a big video for you and an interview with the CEO on our YouTube channel soon.