SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure | SDG 4: Quality Education
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) | C-DAC
The Chips to Start-up (C2S) Programme is a national capacity-building initiative launched by MeitY to transform India into a global hub for semiconductor design and innovation. With a total outlay of ₹250 crore over five years, the program aims to train a specialized workforce of 85,000 industry-ready engineers in Very Large-Scale Integration (VLSI) and Embedded System Design. Beyond manpower, the C2S Programme seeks to catalyze the semiconductor value chain by supporting the development of 175 Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), functional prototypes of 20 Systems on Chips (SoCs), and the incubation of 25 fabless startups.
Strategic Framework and Ecosystem Development
Coordinated Institutional Network: The program involves approximately 400 organizations, including 305 academic institutions (IITs, NITs, and private colleges) and 95 startups.
ChipIN Centre at C-DAC: Acts as a centralized “hub” providing democratized access to high-end Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools from global leaders like Synopsys and Cadence to over 300 institutions.
Shared Wafer Runs: Facilitated by the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali, these runs allow students and researchers to fabricate their designs using 180 nm technology every three months.
Tiered Participation: Proposals are invited across three categories based on an institution’s expertise and Technology Readiness Level (TRL), ranging from basic design flows to full SoC development.
Measurable Outcomes and Progress
Training Reach: Over 1 lakh individuals have enrolled in chip design training, with approximately 67,000 already trained.
Successful Tape-outs: The SCL has successfully fabricated 56 student-designed chips from 122 submissions across 46 institutions.
Intellectual Property: Participating institutions have filed over 75 patents and are developing 500+ IP cores and ASIC designs.
Infrastructure Usage: National EDA infrastructure has recorded over 175 lakh hours of usage by students, researchers, and startups.
What is a ‘Shared Wafer Run’ and how does it lower the barrier for indigenous chip design? It is a collaborative fabrication process (also known as a Multi-Project Wafer or MPW) where multiple distinct chip designs from different institutions are combined onto a single silicon wafer. In the semiconductor industry, the “mask set” required for fabrication is prohibitively expensive for individual academic projects or small startups. By pooling dozens of designs into a shared wafer run, the C2S program spreads these fixed costs across many participants, allowing Indian students to see their conceptual innovations realized as physical silicon chips without the multi-crore investment typically required for independent fabrication.
Policy Relevance
The C2S Programme is a critical pillar of the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), ensuring that the country’s massive manufacturing ambitions are supported by a high-skill talent pipeline.
Strategic Impact:
Moving from ‘Chip Takers’ to ‘Chip Makers’: By focusing on “Design-in-India,” the program aims to capture the high-value segment of the global semiconductor market, projected to reach $1 trillion by 2030.
Democratizing Innovation: Providing remote access to world-class EDA tools through the ChipIN Centre ensures that talent in Tier-II and Tier-III cities can contribute to frontier technology development.
Import Substitution: Targeted ASIC development for small motors (fans/appliances) and surveillance cameras directly reduces India’s dependence on electronic imports.
Catalyzing Deep-Tech Entrepreneurship: The linkage between academic research and startup incubation helps bridge the “valley of death” between a laboratory prototype and a market-ready product.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: How will India ensure that C2S-trained engineers transition into sustained semiconductor employment rather than short-term project exposure?
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