First all-Indian chips to debut this year, 25 more local designs in the works

28nm and fatter processes first, says minister, as semiconductor supply chain players move to cash in

India's ambition to become a semiconductor manufacturing player will bear fruit later this year with the debut of the first silicon designed and built in the nation.

Minister for Railways, Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw teased the arrival of the chip in a video interview that took place at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.

Vaishnaw said a chip will arrive in August or September, and India's first semiconductor fabrication plant will come online in 2026 (that's probably a reference to the project backed by Taiwan's Powerchip and India's Tata).

India is trying to grow its semiconductor industry to meet growing global demand for chips, and because its government sees an opportunity to create an alternative to Chinese and Taiwanese suppliers that buyers may feel could become unreliable due to geopolitical issues. The nation's government has created a $10 billion subsidy scheme to kickstart its chipmaking industry.

The kit teased by the IT minister won't immediately make India a contender to cash in on the market for advanced chips needed for AI, servers, or powerful PCs.

Vaishnaw said the most sophisticated of India's initial semiconductors will be built on a 28nm process. The world's most advanced chipmakers are currently working on 2nm processes. However, plenty of devices will perform well with chips made on 28nm processes, and more refined manufacturing techniques just aren't needed for many semiconductors.

In the years 2026 or 2027, Vaishnaw expects Indian manufacturers to adopt more advanced chipmaking techniques.

He added that 25 semiconductor designs "with IP rights held in the country" are in prospect.

Sadly, the minister didn't confirm any details of those designs. However, Indian government policy calls for the nation to develop the capability to develop Systems on Chips for servers, mobile devices, automotive applications, IoT devices, and microcontrollers. These policy efforts have seen the nation focus R&D efforts on the permissively licensed RISC-V instruction set architecture.

India chip boffins have already used RISC-V to produce some very modest microprocessor designs.

In the interview, Vaishnaw said India is already trying to grow its semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem by encouraging providers of chemicals and gases that are required during the chipmaking process to invest in Indian facilities. Such companies, he said, responded enthusiastically to the prospect of opening in India at a recent event.

The minister is of course enthusiastic about India's progress, but in 2024 US think tank the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) cast doubt on the nation's ability to become a major player, due to unpredictable policymaking as well as the vast complexity required to successfully manufacture semiconductors. ®