India to help enable 50 fabless semiconductor companies in next phase: Ashiwini Vaishnaw

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw recently interacted with semiconductor chip design companies approved under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme of the Semicon India Programme. The interaction focused on reviewing progress, understanding design innovations, and reinforcing the Government’s commitment to building a robust, indigenous semiconductor design ecosystem.

Addressing the stakeholders, Vaishnaw said that the government’s multi-year, ecosystem-driven approach to semiconductor development is delivering tangible results. Highlighting the success of the DLI scheme, the Minister noted that the programme today supports 24 startups.

The DLI Scheme aims to accelerate domestic chip design capabilities by supporting startups and companies across areas such as SoCs, telecom, power management, AI, and IoT, thereby strengthening India’s self-reliance in critical semiconductor technologies.

The DLI-supported companies are engaged in semiconductor design across a broad range of areas, including indigenous SoCs and ASICs for surveillance, networking and embedded systems, RISC-V–based processors and accelerators, and AI-enabled, low-power chips for IoT and edge applications. Their work also covers telecom and wireless chipsets, power management and mixed-signal ICs, and strategic sectors such as automotive, energy, space and defence, contributing to the development of a self-reliant semiconductor design ecosystem in the country.

Advanced EDA tools have been provided to these organizations, leading to approximately 2.25 crore tool-hours of usage, with 67,000 students and over 1,000 startup engineers actively engaged. In academia, 122 designs have been taped out, with 56 chips fabricated at 180nm at SCL, Mohali, while startups have completed 16 tape-outs, resulting in six chips fabricated at advanced foundry nodes as advanced as 12nm. Additionally, 75 patents have been filed by academic institutions, and 10 patents by startups.