India is steadily strengthening its position in the global semiconductor ecosystem, driven by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the country a global hub for semiconductor chip design. Recognising that a strong semiconductor industry requires not only manufacturing facilities but also skilled professionals, advanced design infrastructure and cutting-edge research, the Government has undertaken focused policy interventions and sustained investments in education, research and chip-design capabilities.
A major component of this strategy is the Chips to Start-ups (C2S) Programme, which seeks to address the shortage of skilled manpower and infrastructure in semiconductor design. The programme aims to create 85,000 industry-ready professionals at the B.Tech, M.Tech and PhD levels, specialising in semiconductor chip design. So far, more than 68,000 students have been trained, marking significant progress towards building a specialised talent pool capable of meeting the requirements of a rapidly expanding industry.
The programme has also expanded access to sophisticated chip-design infrastructure. Advanced Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools from leading global technology companies, including Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens EDA, Ansys, Keysight, Silvaco, Renesas-Altium and AMD-Xilinx, among others, have been made available to 332 academic institutions across the country. Such access is critical because semiconductor design requires highly specialised software and computing infrastructure that can otherwise remain beyond the reach of many educational institutions.
The results are already visible in the form of actual chip designs. Participating institutions have successfully taped out 254 chip designs, including 175 designs at the 180-nanometre technology node at Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali, and another 79 designs at overseas semiconductor foundries. These achievements demonstrate that the programme is moving beyond classroom training towards practical design and fabrication capabilities.
Andhra Pradesh has emerged as an important beneficiary of this national semiconductor design initiative. Twenty-three academic institutions in the state have received access to advanced EDA tools under the C2S Programme, with cumulative utilisation exceeding 4.34 lakh tool-hours. Institutions such as IIT Tirupati, IIITDM Kurnool, NIT Andhra Pradesh, VIT-AP, SRM University AP, JNTU Kakinada, JNTU Anantapur, GMR Institute of Technology and several engineering colleges across the state are participating in the programme.
The initiative is also encouraging high-end research. Four institutions in Andhra Pradesh have received financial support for projects addressing strategically important areas of semiconductor technology. IIT Tirupati is developing a secure RISC-V processor for cryptographic applications, while IIITDM Kurnool is working on a hardware accelerator for high-performance computing and cyber-physical systems. NIT Andhra Pradesh is developing an energy-efficient neuromorphic processor for edge IoT applications, while Shri Vishnu Engineering College for Women is working on a memory-efficient co-processing unit for edge AI applications.
These projects are at different stages of design and development and are expected, depending on their scope and maturity, to advance towards prototype validation and tape-out at semiconductor foundries.
The progress highlights a broader transformation in India’s semiconductor strategy. By combining skill development, access to global-grade design tools, academic research and industry-oriented chip development, the Government is creating the foundations of a sustainable domestic semiconductor ecosystem. The C2S Programme, therefore, represents not merely an educational initiative but a strategic investment in India’s technological capabilities and future economic competitiveness.
The details were provided by Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada in the Lok Sabha on August 12, 2026. The initiative reflects India’s growing emphasis on developing indigenous semiconductor design capabilities and nurturing the talent required to position the country as a significant player in the global chip industry.
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