India has announced the DIR-V Program to develop Siliconize and create design wins for the future around SHAKTI and VEGA RISC-V Processors

The ministry said that wheels were set in motion to Catalyze India’s semiconductor ecosystem, as design and co-development pacts were announced at SemiconIndia 2022.

To drive the semiconductor hub in India, the Centre unveiled SemiconIndia Conference 2022 with a roadmap to catalyse the industry's ecosystem. In a major move, multiple Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) has been signed on Saturday between the government and leading players.

Ministry of Electronics & IT said that the wheels were set in motion to Catalyze India’s semiconductor ecosystem, today, as design and co-development pacts were announced at SemiconIndia 2022. Recently India has announced the DIR-V Program to develop Siliconize and create design wins for the future around SHAKTI and VEGA RISC-V Processors.

With that, DIR-V has announced Five MoUs for the use of indigenously developed RISC-V Processors -SHAKTI and VEGA. 

These are:

1. MoU between SONY India and DIR-V SHAKTI Processor (IIT Madras) for the Systems/Products developed by SONY.

2. MoU between ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU), Thiruvananthapuram, and DIR-V SHAKTI Processor (IIT Madras) for the development of high-performance SoCs (System on Chip) and Fault-Tolerant Computer Systems.

3. MoU between Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Department of Atomic Energy, and DIR-V SHAKTI Processor (IIT Madras) for the Systems/Products developed by IGCAR.

4. MoU between Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and DIR-V VEGA Processor (C-DAC) for Rudra Server board, Cyber security, and Language Solutions.

5. MoU between Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) and DIR-V VEGA Processor (C-DAC) for the 4G/5G, Broadband, IOT/ M2M solutions.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship said," There has been an exponential growth in electronics production in India. The sector has grown to fulfil domestic demand and export globally. This is fuelling demand for microprocessors and chips. The time is ripe for India to rise and take up this challenge head on."

Chandrasekhar added, "Our start-up ecosystem is replete with some of the best minds in technology and I am confident that our start-ups will drive the next wave of innovation, leading India’s digital economy. Our design and innovation ecosystem are robust and thriving and I am certain our next wave of unicorns will be from this sector."

The conference commenced from April 29 to May 1. Today, was the second day and it had invigorating sessions and discussions with global and Indian technocrats.

Raja Koduri, Chief Architect and Senior Vice President, Intel’s IAGS division delivered a talk on “From Angstroms to Zetta-scale: Silicon, Systems, and Software in India". The session covered the real potential in AI, System Design & middleware for Indian Start-ups.

Akarsh Hebbar, MD, Avanstrate delivered a session on Indian Opportunities in Integrated Semiconductor and Display. He emphasized the role of the semiconductor sector given the rise in demand and projected growth in the sector in the coming years. Upcoming technologies such as 5G will further boost demand and this sets up India perfectly to build an ecosystem that can cater to local demand and also reach Indian chips and microprocessors across the globe.