Inside CeNSE: Building the Infrastructure Behind India's Deep-Tech Manufacturing Push

As India ramps up investments in semiconductors and advanced manufacturing, one challenge continues to confront early-stage technology companies: access to infrastructure. While government incentives have accelerated plans for large-scale chip manufacturing, startups developing semiconductor devices, sensors, photonics, medical technologies and advanced materials still require fabrication facilities, characterisation equipment and packaging capabilities that are prohibitively expensive to build independently.

At the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, an integrated research and innovation ecosystem has emerged to address precisely this gap. By combining semiconductor fabrication, advanced materials characterisation, packaging infrastructure and startup incubation within a single campus, the centre is providing researchers and deep-tech companies with capabilities that would otherwise require significant capital investment.

The National Nano Fabrication Facility (NNFC) forms the foundation of this ecosystem.The facility supports the complete micro- and nano-fabrication workflow—from lithography and thin-film deposition to etching and process integration—and serves researchers, startups and industrial users working across semiconductor devices, MEMS, photonics and nanoelectronics. Built around internationally recognised ISO-certified processes, the facility enables technology evelopers to prototype devices using manufacturing workflows that closely resemble industrial production.

Once fabricated, devices move through CeNSE's Micro & Nano Characterization Facility (MNCF), where advanced electron microscopy, spectroscopy and electrical characterisation tools are used to evaluate structural, chemical and electrical performance. The ability to identify process variations and optimise device performance at this stage is particularly important for startups, where repeated design iterations can otherwise become both time-consuming and expensive.

The development cycle is completed at the Packaging and Systems Facility (PASF), which provides chip packaging, assembly, wire bonding, system integration and reliability testing. Packaging remains one of the less visible but increasingly important segments of the semiconductor value chain, and access to these capabilities allows startups to validate complete systems before moving towards commercial deployment.

Infrastructure, however, is only one part of the equation. Commercialising research also requires institutional support, industry engagement and access to capital. Through the Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID), IISc's technology commercialisation arm, CeNSE operates INCeNSE, a technology business incubator focused on deep-tech entrepreneurship.

Supported by the Department of Electronics, Information Technology and Biotechnology, Government of Karnataka, and K-Tech, INCeNSE has built a portfolio spanning semiconductors, advanced materials, energy technologies, healthcare, quantum technologies and industrial IoT. Semiconductor startups including AGNIT, 14Si Solutions, INFAB, Meukron and Molecular Semiconductors are among the companies leveraging the ecosystem, alongside ventures such as Theranautilus, AagamiSEQ, DensePower, ABX3 PV, SuperQ, Meerkats Heatcrafters, ICeNd and Gyrfalcon IntelliEdge Solutions. The incubator also operates a pre-incubation programme for early-stage ventures that are still developing their technologies.

CeNSE's engagement with startups extends beyond incubation. Through the Indian Nanoelectronics Users Programme (INUP), companies continue to access fabrication, characterisation and packaging infrastructure as their products mature. Fourteen deep-tech startups have utilised the programme, allowing them to expand their technology development without investing in dedicated fabrication facilities during their early growth phase.

The centre is also expanding its focus through the Gallium Nitride Ecosystem Enabling Centre and Incubator (GEECI), an initiative aimed at strengthening domestic capabilities in gallium nitride (GaN)-based semiconductor technologies. As demand grows for high-power and high-frequency devices across electric mobility, telecommunications, defence and power electronics, access to specialised GaN fabrication infrastructure is expected to become increasingly important for both startups and industry.

India's semiconductor strategy has largely focused on attracting large manufacturing investments. Equally important, however, is building the innovation pipeline that feeds those manufacturing ecosystems. Institutions such as CeNSE occupy this upstream position by enabling researchers and entrepreneurs to design, fabricate, test and refine technologies long before they enter commercial production. As the country's deep-tech ecosystem expands, such shared infrastructure is likely to play an increasingly important role in reducing entry barriers, accelerating product development and strengthening India's domestic technology capabilities.