Rajeev Chandrasekhar to launch 3rd SemiconIndia Future Design Roadshow

Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar will launch the third SemiconIndia Future Design Roadshow at IIT Delhi on Friday.

The event is likely to witness a lineup of major announcements, and will showcase the vision of global semiconductor leaders on catalysing the semiconductor ecosystem in India.

A series of roadshows are being organised by IT Ministry across the country to stimulate the next-gen Semiconductor Designers, and promote the culture of co-development and joint ownership of IPs with active industry participation, an official release said here.

The first roadshow in the series was organised at Karnavati University, Gandhinagar in October 2022, followed by one at IISc Bangalore in February 2023.

In December 2021, the Centre initiated the India Semiconductor Mission with an incentive outlay of Rs 76,000 crore to attract investments in the sector.

"Rajeev Chandrasekhar has said NextGen devices and electronics products will be architected, designed and co-designed in India, through these schemes like Semicon India Future Design Program," the release said.

During the roadshow on Friday, global semiconductor leaders will be exchanging visions to catalyse the semiconductor ecosystem in India.

"With a belief that the next unicorn will be from the fabless chip design area, 2 future Design startups, which have been approved for support under the DLI (Design Linked Incentive) Scheme and will be provided with the financial support as well as design infrastructure support for designing state of the art system on chips will be announced," the release said.

These start-ups will be working on implementing innovative silicon designs, which will find space in key growth areas- automotive, mobility and computing areas.

"In coming weeks, more future Design startups are lining up to be approved under the DLI Scheme," it added.

Also, VC firm Sequoia Capital India has become the first institutional investor to make a foray into the semiconductor space "as they believe there is a massive opportunity for deep tech startups to turn the country into a global centre for custom silicon IP and hardware innovation".

Sequoia will also announce investment in two Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) start-ups, the release informed.