Govt working on 25 chipsets with Indian IPR to fight cyberattacks: Vaishnaw

Vaishnaw unravels the action on the ground and the move towards localisation

The semiconductor and AI (artificial intelligence) mission is moving fast even as it charts a $500 billion electronics-production target by 2030. Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister for electronics and information technology, railways, and information and broadcasting, in an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta in New Delhi, unravels the action on the ground and the move towards localisation. Edited excerpts:

 

Under the semiconductor scheme, the government has given a push to designing chips in the country through the design-linked incentive (DLI) scheme. How has been the response and how much work has been done?

 

We are working on designing 25 chipsets where the IP (intellectual property) will be owned in India. These include chips where the day-to-day risks of cyber-security threats are high, like in surveillance cameras or wi-fi access points. We have 13 such projects ongoing in this space under the scheme  and some have made good progress. These chipsets can be used by all users. Now they are imported. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Bengaluru, is the nodal agency. When we have our own IP, we get security from attacks and, second, it becomes a product. For ages we have been a services nation though our design engineers are designing for the world. We should now have the IP rights as well as products too in the country. These can be manufactured in our upcoming fabs, which are getting ready.

 

You had put in place a plan to build an ecosystem to back institutions so that we could be a semiconductor design hub. How has that worked?

 

We are making good progress. We have supported 240 colleges and institutions by giving them the world’s best design-software tools so that they can design chips. The good news is that the first 20 chips designed by the students using these tools will soon be taped at the Semi-Conductor Laboratory, Mohali. This gives confidence to students, who can design, validate, and use these chips, and can become startups by themselves if these work. This will help us in building a talent pool of 85,000 engineers in 10 years, which we had promised. Our engineers are today capable of designing chips end to end. 

 

You recently notified the new PLI (production-linked incentive) of electronics components? How do you see this will help in increasing value addition, which has not been very high?

 

In 10 years we have increased electronics production in the country five times at a 17 per cent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) and electronics exports six times at a CAGR of more than 20 per cent. PLI has a major role in this growth, generating 2.5 million additional jobs in electronics. Domestic value addition has increased to 20 per cent. Compare this with the highest value addition in any one country. The highest in a country is 38-40 per cent, which was achieved after nurturing the industry for 30 years. We have attained 20 per cent in 10 years. Our component scheme fits well into this journey. We started with finished goods, then modules, and now components. All this will help us in doubling value addition in five years.

 

We think today we are well placed in electronics, which can grow much faster.

 

Will the component electronics PLI concentrate on serving domestic needs or will it be an integral part of the global supply chain of electronics?

 

We are making a mindset shift from just import substitution to export-led growth in electronics. The Prime Minister inspires us to “make in India and make for the world”. We must manufacture at scale. Substantial volumes of electronic components will be for export. We will integrate with the global value chain, and are working with state governments for faster approvals, etc.

 

What is the next stage in the AI (artificial intelligence) space? You have completed the first round of empanelment of companies that will provide high computing power through graphics processing units (GPUs)?

 

The next round of empanelment is on. The response in this round is as good as it was in the first. In the second phase we expect to procure a similar number of GPUs as in the first round. So we will have no shortage of computing power for AI in the country.

 

LLM (large language model) applications are in an advanced stage of evaluation. We have had a good response with 67 players in the first phase itself.

 

We wanted to develop apps in agriculture, metrology, climate-related issues, and education. Development is going well. Twenty-seven good apps have been shortlisted. We are working with the administrative ministries to get them implemented.

 

We have created a virtual safety institute. Different universities are part of the initiative and they are developing technical tools that will be used for safety in the AI world, like deepfake protection and unlearning a model.

 

The INDIA bloc attacked the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, saying it undermined the public’s ability to access critical information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and therefore needed changes in the relevant clause. What is your response?

 

I would like to place it on record that all personal data that is required to be put in the public domain will continue to be available as part of RTI — for example, the data related to people’s representatives, the data on government programmes and projects, etc. We have harmonised the RTI with the Puttuswamy judgment (in the Supreme Court).

 

The consultation process for DPDP is over, issues have been sorted out, and it will be published soon.