Lok Sabha Question No. 1460 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2024-12-04
Subject: Encouraging Innovations for Chips
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Thiru Dr. S Jagathratchakan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1460

TO BE ANSWERED ON: 04.12.2024

## ENCOURAGING INNOVATIONS FOR CHIPS

## 1460.  SHRI S JAGATHRATCHAKAN:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

(a)  whether  the  Government  concurs  with  the  view  that  the  country  needs  to  encourage innovations that cater to the ever-increasing demands for faster, cheaper and more powerful chips which includes providing greater funding to startups and private research institutions much like the way US offers grants for projects that can create tremendous value for society;

and

(b) if so, the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI JITIN PRASADA)

(a)  and  (b): Government is focused on its objective of building the overall semiconductor design and manufacturing ecosystem with an emphasis on fostering research and innovation within the country. To achieve this, several initiatives are taken, including the establishment of  R&D  (Research  &  Development)  and  manufacturing  infrastructure,  capacity-building initiatives, and skill development programs to address workforce gaps. The government also supports  R&D  initiatives  for  advancing  technology  and  provides  incentives  to  startups  & private  research  institutions,  encouraging  them  to  create  innovative  solutions,  in  areas  like semiconductor  chip  design,  to  address  societal  requirements.  Some  of  these  initiatives  of Government of India include, but are not limited to the following:

- (i) Generating  industry-ready  manpower  in  chip  design: Chips  to  Start-up  (C2S) Programme  is  an  umbrella  capacity  building  programme  initiated  by  Ministry  of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) with an outlay of Rs. 250 Crore for 5 years in the year  2022  at  113  academic  organizations  (including  100  academic institutions/ R&D organizations and 13 startups/ MSMEs) spread across the country.

The C2S Programme aims to generate 85,000 number of industry-ready manpower at B.Tech, M.Tech, and PhD levels specialized in semiconductor chip design, VLSI (Very Large-Scale Integration) and embedded system design areas and create vibrant fabless chip design ecosystem in the country.

The  C2S  Programme  takes  a  comprehensive  approach  by  offering  students  complete hands-on  experience  in  chip  design,  fabrication,  and  testing.  This  is  achieved  through regular  training  sessions,  conducted  in  collaboration  with  industry  partners,  and  by providing  mentorship  and  access  to  chip  design,  fabrication  &  testing  resources  to students including state-of-the-art EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools, access to semiconductor  foundries  for  fabricating  their  chips  etc.  These  opportunities  include implementing the R&D (Research & Development) projects under C2S Programme for development of working prototypes of ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits), Systems/ SoCs (System-on-Chips), and IP (Intellectual Property) Core designs.

- (ii) Supporting semiconductor research & innovation ecosystem: MeitY supports R&D projects  for  design  &  development  of  semiconductor  chips  tailored  for  strategic  &
- societal  needs  at  academic  institutions,  research  organizations,  and  startup  companies. Some of these initiatives includes but not limited to the following- design, development, and  fabrication  of  a  range  of  32-bit/64-bit  multi-core  microprocessors,  chipsets  for NavIC  (Navigation  with  Indian  Constellation)  receivers,  and  Digital  Programmable Hearing Aids (DPHA) using indigenous processors, Photonics/ Quantum Chips, among other  applications.  These  initiatives  have  also  resulted  in  generating  start-ups  in  chip design area. (iii)Catalysing semiconductor design and manufacturing industry: Government of India has approved the 'Modified Programme for Semiconductors and Display Fab Ecosystem' with an outlay of ₹76,000 crore in order to  catalyse  the  semiconductor  & display ecosystem in the country. The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme has been approved as part of it with an outlay of Rs. 1000 Crore to offset the disabilities in the domestic  semiconductor  chip  design  industry  as  well  as  move  up  in  value-chain  and strengthen the semiconductor chip design ecosystem in the country.

The DLI Scheme offers financial incentives & design infrastructure support to domestic companies, start-ups and MSMEs across various stages of development & deployment of semiconductor chips.

42 design companies (including start-ups and MSMEs) have been approved for design infrastructure support under the DLI Scheme. Out of these, 15 companies have also been approved for financial support for developing semiconductor chip/ SoCs for applications in sectors such as automotive, mobility, computing, communications etc.

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