Signalchip unveils India's first indigenous 4G, LTE semiconductor chips

Bengaluru-based Signalchip Wednesday unveiled semiconductor chips for 4G, LTE and 5G modems, the first such chips developed in India.

The company said it is in discussions with various original equipment makers (OEMs) for deploying the chipsets.

"Currently in India, all devices and infrastructure, whether imported or domestically manufactured, use imported silicon chips. While R&D for every major semiconductor company happens in India, but India does not have the ownership of the R&D," Signalchip founder and CEO Himamshu Khasnis told reporters here.

He added that given the wireless communication is central to almost all economic, strategic and domestic activities, the ability to indigenously design and develop silicon chips is vital for the security and prosperity of India.

Signalchip, which has worked on development of semiconductor chips for over eight years, Wednesday unveiled four chips that can serve as a base station chipset for a wide range of factors - from low-cost indoor small cells to high-performance telecom base stations.

Data security is the paramount concern in the world and India cannot remain secure in terms of data, unless it manufactures its own chips, Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said.

"I congratulate the Signalchip team for designing India's first indigenous semiconductor chips for 4G/LTE and 5G NR modems," she said.

Sundararajan said this development would have huge implications for the country's data security and data sovereignty, besides the positive economic implications.

Stating that India cannot lag behind at a time when the US and China are battling it out for the core ICT technology, she said the country aspires to take a leadership role in developing inclusive 5G technologies for economic self-sufficiency and strategic needs of the country.