Work on developing a framework for chips is underway to run artificial intelligence systems, and three senior officials said they are aware of the development, as an official announcement is expected later this year. The government said anonymously that it will set up a tentative timeline for 2027 to manufacture chips at domestic chip manufacturing plants.
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) has partnered with the Center for Advanced Computing Development (C-DAC) and the National E-Government Department to design the chips from scratch, officials said.
The chip leverages its expertise in building C-DAC processors based on the open source “RISC-V” (reducing instruction source computers) core architecture. This is an openly accessible set of standards that can be used by any party to build its own processor core architecture.
India’s quest to develop unique AI chips that are critical to implement generation AI models that enable tools such as ChatGPT reflects concerns about the lack of access to technology that will shape the future. According to a Gartner report, more than 70% of global semiconductor revenue was acquired by the US last year, giving it the disproportionate power to control the semiconductors that drive everything from electrical appliances and cars to spacecraft.
Emails asking for responses from Meity and C-DAC did not receive responses until press time.
Also Read | AI missions should focus on core technology to avoid errors made with chips, smartphones
Still, developing this technology from scratch usually requires years of research and development (R&D) and billions of dollars in investment.
“We are decades behind US R&D companies. Semiconductors need billions of dollars of large R&D to build their own chips,” says a partner at technology consultancy Convergence Catalyst. said Jayanth Kolla. Currently, only a maximum of 28nm (nanometer) chip can be configured. This is not refined enough for AI operations.
Nvidia’s AI chip is below 5nm.
Even in China, it took decades to develop its own technology. After imposing sanctions against China during Donald Trump’s first tenure, Huawei, one of China’s biggest electronics conglomerates, has shifted most of its electronic devices to custom silicon chips. However, Hisilicon was founded in 1991 30 years ago.
Big Tech Help
“C-DAC RISC-V chip cores will be the basic processing framework, but experts, including major private tech companies in the US and executives at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) Foundry, consult with Meity to do the same thing. “One of the officials above said.
The promotion of the centres developing these chips is to provide ample computing power to develop basic artificial intelligence (AI) models for academia researchers and startups.
Also Read | Indian AI companies are assaulted during chip order, Stargate and Deepseek
“There is already quite a lot of talent in chip design within India, and more engineers and researchers are trained at TSMC, he said.
It’s not a knee response
On January 14th, former US President Joe Biden signed an executive order to curb the supply of elected nations. India was not included in the list of countries exempted from order restrictions, but unlike China, it was not blacklisted either. However, the move was seen as a threat to India’s growing technology sector. On January 30, Mint reported that Indian AI-facing technology company had lost nearly 50% in its share price since the order was announced.
On the same day, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced that the Indian AI Mission had confirmed the availability of 18,693 Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) used to train and develop basic AI models.
The move is not a knee-jerk response to US actions, but a long-term move in development even before it unveiled the outline of the Indian AI mission, officials said.
Read Also | From Chips to Stargate: Can India survive the storm of Trump’s AI policy?
“Semiconductor chips are approaching today’s basic products, a third official who cited previously said:
“India’s proprietary chip infrastructure will ease this impact by creating power-efficient computing chips that are comparable to the types of processors needed for cutting-edge AI development,” the official said. Ta.
India’s Opportunities
According to Kolla of Convergence Catalyst, the US model demonstrates the role of government in boosting R&D to private labs and becoming a client of advanced technology early in the cycle. “This cultivates risk-taking habits. The US is making the most of it to become a global technology leader today. The same has been missing for a long time in India.”
Ashok Chandak, president of the Industry Body India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA), also emphasized swift action.
“Deep investment in R&D should begin to flow into educational institutions and government-affiliated institutions to develop core technologies for the ecosystem of semiconductors, AI and electronic components,” he said. The US could have a serious impact on multiple industries in India and how investors view our market. ”
Also Read | Targeting Global Chip Shifts is More Important than Self-Sufficiency: Chris Miller
Kolla cited an example of how Europe has disappeared as a place for consumer technology as well as a cutting-edge technology. He said the US and China are heading in the same direction as the US-Soviet War of the Spaces of the 1960s.
“For India at the geopolitical edge, this opens up considerable opportunities to become a key stakeholder in global technology,” he said. About selling our basic technology to other parts of the world. ”
Bid for better fabs
Senior industry executives working closely with Meity and India Semiconductor Mission said the government is in discussion with “major strategic partners” to bring “more refined fabs” to India.
“The next phase of the Indian semiconductor mission will require bringing more valuable fabs to India. This means that as the global value chain is currently dominated by Taiwan, it will follow those like Malaysia and Vietnam. It’s a tricky task because there are,” the executive said. Conditions of anonymity. However, India plays a key role in the Asian subcontinent, close to the US, its importance in the Asian subcontinent, and as the fastest growing large-scale economy.
Pronounced | The government says that India’s semiconductor market will exceed $100 billion by 2030
Meity is expected to announce the second phase of ISM in the coming weeks, Vaishnaw said on Saturday. Mint reported last August that semiconductor Fab incentives of between $15 million and $200 billion will be approved subject to Cabinet approval.
