New Delhi, Mar 21 (KNN) The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is implementing a systematic overhaul of semiconductor design capabilities across more than 300 organisations in India, including 250 academic institutions and 65 startup companies.
The Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme represents a cornerstone of this effort, targeting the development of 85,000 industry-ready professionals specialised in semiconductor chip design at B.Tech, M.Tech, and PhD levels.
The programme delivers comprehensive hands-on experience in chip design, fabrication, and testing through regular training sessions conducted in partnership with industry stakeholders.
Students receive mentorship and access to essential resources including Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools and semiconductor foundry services for chip fabrication.
These opportunities enable participants to implement research and development projects focused on developing functional prototypes of Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), System-on-Chips (SoCs), and Intellectual Property (IP) Core designs.
As part of the C2S Programme, the ChipIN Centre has been established at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), serving as one of the largest facilities of its kind in the country.
This centralised design facility brings advanced chip design infrastructure directly to India’s semiconductor design community.
The centre hosts cutting-edge tools supporting the entire chip design cycle up to 5nm or advanced node technology, while also providing aggregated services for design fabrication at foundries and packaging.
During the announcement event, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw outlined three strategic approaches necessary for India to evolve into a product-oriented nation.
First, he acknowledged India’s significant achievements in the service industry while emphasising the importance of transitioning toward becoming a product nation.
The minister highlighted recent announcements regarding software and hardware product development as successful steps toward this objective.
Secondly, Minister Vaishnaw stressed that solutions should emerge fr0m a diverse range of stakeholders through partnerships across all levels of academia, startups, students, and researchers, rather than being limited to select entities.
Finally, he advocated for an incremental yet progressive approach to achieve these solutions, noting that the entire spectrum of chip development should be targeted—fr0m chips with low value but high deployment potential to those with high value but limited deployment potential.
The recently announced BLDC Controller chip development demonstrates significant volume deployment potential, while RISC-V, being open-source, represents high value due to its applications in designing CPUs, GPUs, and sustainable products for the country.
Today’s India presents substantial opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs and researchers to lead in designing and redefining future semiconductor systems, devices, and products.
The C2S Programme, aligned with the nation’s commitment to building a robust and self-sustaining semiconductor ecosystem, is empowering the next generation of technical talent to drive India’s technological advancements and position the nation as a global powerhouse in semiconductor design and manufacturing.
(KNN Bureau)
