Hand Holding Start-Ups In Chip Design To Boost Output : Daily Current Affairs

Relevance: GS-3: Infrastructure

Key Phrases: Digital India RISC-V programme (DIR-V Programme); Shakti and Vega Microprocessor; ₹76,000 crore Semicon India Programme.

Minister of State For Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar launched the Digital India RISC-V programme.
The government aims to work with start-ups to help them design and develop semiconductors and enable mass production in partnership with global manufacturing majors.

By 2023-24, commercial roll out of the first indigenous chipsets and future generation of microprocessors under the above programme is expected.
- This will meet the surging demand in semiconductors in the automotive, mobility and computing segments.
- The government expects at least a few companies will adopt their product designs to DIR-V products Shakti and Vega before 2023-24.
  - When the silicon is ready, they can start manufacturing and incorporating chips in the products.

Using open source architecture two microprocessors have been developed.
- Shakti (32 bit) by The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and
- Vega (64 bit) by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)
Administrative appointments in the DIR-V programme.
- Professor V. Kamakoti (IIT-Madras director) has been appointed as the chief architect and
- CDAC-Thiruvananthapuram scientist Krishnakumar Rao as the programme manager.

Due to an integrated multi-institutional and multi-location team,
- The programme will consolidate and leverage the ongoing efforts in the country.
- Finalise the formal architecture and target performance of chipsets,
- Support original equipment makers.
The DIR-V initiative is part of the government’s ₹76,000 crore effort to build a semiconductor ecosystem in the country.
The partnership between the Shakti and Vega teams and overall DIR-V programme with platform companies such as HP, VVDN, and Apple and a large number of companies in the electronic ecosystem will help create design wins around the DIR-V family of products Shakti and Vega.

Usage of semiconductors
- India will use semiconductors worth $70-80 billion to manufacture electronics products worth $300 billion by 2026 (government’s vision document).
Atma Nirbhar
- The Centre is aiming to make the country self-reliant in the semiconductor segment.
Fighting off Cost-Push inflation
- The recent shortages of semiconductor has led to an increase in input costs for products and services, in turn leading to increasing inflation.
Capacity Development and rise as a manufacturing hub
- India also aims to build semiconductor fabs and has sought interest from global majors for setting up manufacturing plants in the country, which will entail billions of dollars in investment.
Securing Strategic interests
- Semiconductors are strategically important and can be used for snooping and espionage, hence developing domestic capabilities will negate any such potential threats.

Proposals from 5 firms to set up electronic chip and display manufacturing plants with an investment of ₹1.53 trillion under the Semicon India Programme, which entailed incentives to the tune of ₹76,000 crore has been received.
Vedanta Foxconn JV, IGSS Ventures, and ISMC have proposed to set up electronic chip manufacturing plants with $13.6 billion investment and have sought the support of $5.6 billion from the Centre under the ₹76,000 crore Semicon India Programme.

RISC - Reduced Instruction Set Architecture
- These are a type of processors.
- These have a smaller set of instructions with few addressing nodes.
Design Linked Incentive Scheme
- Launched in December 2021
- Aim is “To create a vibrant ecosystem for Semiconductor Chip Design in the country”.
- C-DAC will be the nodal agency.
- Has 3 components:-
  1. Chip Design infrastructure support:
    - C-DAC will set up the India Chip Centre to host the state-of-the-art design infrastructure and facilitate its access to supported companies.
  2. The Product Design Linked Incentive:
    - Reimbursement of up to 50% of the eligible expenditure subject to a ceiling of 15 Crore per application will be provided as fiscal support to the approved applicants who are engaged in semiconductor design.
  3. The Deployment Linked Incentive:
    - For incremental sales.