IIT-H, NXP India, MeitY join hands to boost semiconductor and IP startups

The programme aims to locate, facilitate, and mentor semiconductor and IP design start-ups in India in both, technological as well as business aspects.

NXP India is among the biggest R&D centres for NXP Semiconductors and a world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications.

As per a statement, the programme will support India's vision of making the country a self-reliant nation as it creates a ready platform to support start-ups who wish to design semiconductor chips in India.

The local hardware designing and manufacturing of products will strengthen the core Technology-driven System pillar vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat and in turn will boost India's economy, generate employment, and enhance India's position globally in the electronics industry by moving up in the value chain, the statement added.

"The next decade will be all about creating a "world that anticipates & automates" with a lot of smart connected systems  around us. All of that will lead into making the planet a better world to live in and fun to innovate in. These smart connected systems have a core semiconductor technology at the heart of it. In that context, I see Semiconductor Startup Incubation and Acceleration  program can bring the core impetus to the strengthening of fabless semiconductor design in India and I am very excited and looking forward to see the outcomes with this program" said Lars Reger, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, NXP Semiconductors.

As many as five promising  start-ups will be incubated for a period of two years in each cohort every year. The participants will include Semiconductor Chip Design, IP Design, Design Services startups with an IP focus and Chip Design Tool related startups.

Ajay  Sawhney, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said: "It is a significant step as India is poised to increase its share in innovation-driven global manufacturing of mobile phones, IT hardware, automotive,  industrial and medical electronics, IoT and other devices."

Highlighting  the uniqueness of the FabCI at IIT Hyderabad, B.S. Murty, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, said, "The endeavours carried out by IIT Hyderabad under the aegis of MeitY to set up Fabless chip design Incubator (FabCI) is the building block  of this program. FabCI is an unique incubator that provides free access to highly expensive EDA tools and prototyping, apart from the basic infrastructure."