Why in the News?
The Chips to Start up (C2S) Programme has reported strong outcomes, including 56 student designed chips fabricated, 75 plus patents filed, and large scale national training in chip design, reflecting India’s growing indigenous semiconductor design capability.
About Chips to Start up (C2S) Programme
- The Chips to Start up (C2S) Programme is a national capacity building and innovation initiative to develop industry ready chip design talent and strengthen India’s indigenous semiconductor ecosystem through hands on training, research and fabrication exposure.
- Launched in: 2022
- Implemented by: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Aim
- Create a strong pipeline of skilled chip designers
- Enable hands on chip fabrication for students
- Promote start ups, patents and IP creation
- Support technological self reliance in semiconductors
Key Features
- Financial outlay: ₹250 crore for 5 years
- Infrastructure and tools: Access to shared EDA tools, High Performance Computing (HPC), FPGA boards, and SMART laboratories across institutions
- Hands on fabrication: Shared wafer runs provided through Semi Conductor Laboratory.
- Chip design enablement: National ChipIN Centre and Operated by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Bengaluru
- Innovation outcomes: Student designed ASICs and SoCs, Start up incubation, Patents, IP cores and chip prototypes
- Industry collaboration: Training partnerships with global EDA and semiconductor firms
Significance
- Addresses the global semiconductor skill gap
- Democratises chip design by providing nationwide access to advanced tools and fabrication
- Reduces dependence on foreign design ecosystems
- Strengthens Atmanirbhar Bharat in a strategic and security sensitive sector
- Complements India’s broader semiconductor manufacturing and design policy
Prelims Takeaways
- C2S Programme launched in 2022
- Implemented by MeitY
- Focus on chip design plus fabrication exposure
- Uses SCL Mohali for wafer runs
- ChipIN Centre operated by C DAC Bengaluru
- Key pillar of India’s indigenous semiconductor capability building
| [2025] Consider the following statements:Â
1. It is expected that Majorana 1 chip will enable quantum computing 2. Majorana 1 chip has been introduced by Amazon Web Services (AWS) 3. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning Which of the statements given above are correct? (a) I and only I (b) II and III only (c) I and III only (d) I, II and III |
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