Govt has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore to fund chip design startups: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

The Centre is also working to build an end-to-end semiconductor ecosystem, which includes the new fund, and the semiconductor packaging and manufacturing components, he added.

“We clearly want to be able to say that the next generation of devices and products, like India Stack or next-gen platforms, are being architected and designed in India. We have set aside a Rs 1,000 crore fund that will be directly used to invest by the government, with matching contributions from the states as capital into semiconductor design startups,” Chandrasekhar said.

He added that the government’s goal was to have “at least 50-100 semiconductor design startups in different use cases in the next 1-2 years” which will be incorporated into products and the overall digital ecosystem.
Chandrasekhar was speaking at the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022 on Thursday.

The Centre is currently scrutinising applications for chip manufacturing in the country. Companies that qualify for the government incentives under the India Semiconductor Mission are expected to be announced soon.

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The government is also working with organisations such as IIT-Madras on a project to design the next generation of microprocessors, Chandrasekhar added.

The government has committed $30 billion for semiconductors and electronics.

It has committed $20 billion in investment for electronics manufacturing and design, and $10 billion for semiconductor manufacturing and design, he said.

In semiconductors, the focus will be on creating manufacturing capacity, packaging and verification capacities and capabilities, design, research, and skill.

“More focus will also be towards semiconductor R&D like processing, manufacturing and tooling. Apart from upgrading the Semiconductor Lab in Mohali for up to Rs 10,000 crore with a private partner, another research centre will be set up in Bengaluru,” Chandrasekhar added.