Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar kickstarted the second day of the Semicon India conference 2023. He addressed attendees who included stakeholders from universities, startups, major semiconductor companies and various government partners in India.

In his address, the Minister talked about the progress made in the semiconductor industry in less than two years since its inception. He spoke about India’s aim to become a strong global player in semiconductors within the next decade.

“We intend to build a robust, vibrant, globally competitive presence in the global semiconductor ecosystem in the next 10 years with the capital that PM Narendra Modi ji has given us. We certainly want to do what countries to the North of us took 200 billion dollars in 30 years and could not succeed. The Future is Bright and the Future is India in the semiconductor ecosystem,” the Minister said during his address at the conference.

The Minister highlighted how India has successfully built strong global partnerships with other countries, including Japan and the US in critical areas of technology, including semiconductors. He mentioned that in the past 15 months, there have been important visits and agreements between India and other nations, marking significant milestones that were never seen before.

“Our Prime Minister had a significant visit to the US where he made a historic agreement with President Biden, focusing on critical emerging technologies. There was also an agreement with Japan, covering various areas, including semiconductors. India entered into an agreement with the European Union with their Trade and Technology Council. There is an alignment of global interests, a global vision of the future of the semiconductor ecosystem and India’s own ambitions and capabilities,” the Minister added.

Speaking about startups and incubation centres, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar emphasized how the government is offering benefits to support them. “So far, 7 chip design startups have been approved for funding and assistance in developing their products. This initiative is steadily gaining confidence and support. It’s a relatively new opportunity for startups to delve into deep tech and semiconductor design. We are envisaging that the programme should eventually include larger companies as well. We have launched a Digital India RISC-V program(DIR-V) and a large number of startups and incubation centres built around academic institutions are focusing on the future of RISC-V and on the devices it operates on,” the Minister explained.

While speaking about India’s progress in semiconductor research, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar mentioned the creation of the “India Semiconductor Research Centre.” This institution is intended to be a collaborative effort involving both public and private partnerships, with numerous overseas and academic institutions, global semiconductor companies, Indian enterprises, and the government as the main contributors. “The goal is to establish a strong network of hardworking partners working together to develop the institution’s design. This research centre holds great significance as it will serve as a placeholder for our research ambitions and play an important role in shaping the research ecosystem we aim to build,” he further added.

On the second day of the Semicon India Conference 2023, three significant announcements were made including forging new partnerships to develop a cutting-edge skilling curriculum, identifying two promising startups eligible for incentives in the semiconductor ecosystem, and the introduction of programmes to boost startups within this space.

During a press conference, CDAC announced a partnership with Arm, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, to empower semiconductor startups in India through the Arm Flexible Access for Startups Program.

Two more startups/MSMEs involved in semiconductor design were announced as participants in the SemiconIndia futureDESIGN DLI scheme. One of them is Aheesa Digital Innovations Private Limited (Aheesa), located in Chennai. Aheesa focuses on Telecom, Networking, and Cyber Security domains. The other startup is Calligo Technologies, based in Bengaluru, India, and it serves global companies in HPC, Big Data, and AI/ML segments.

An important collaboration was also initiated through a Memorandum of Understanding   (MoU) between the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, and Lam Research India. They aim to develop a specialized course for Indian universities, teaching semiconductor fabrication technology using Lam Research’s SemiverseTM Solutions virtual fabrication software, SEMulator3D.

These announcements were made in the presence of the MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar. He highlighted the significance of these partnerships in supporting India’s semiconductor market growth.

The Semicon India Conference 2023 was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi yesterday. This is the second edition of the conference, first held in 2022. Since its inception, the Indian semiconductor industry has witnessed the addition of several new products, technologies, and professionals, which have contributed to its overall growth.

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