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Subject: Emerging TechXIT

  • To cash in on next tech boom, India needs the right chips

    Why in the News

    At SEMICON India 2026, India counted 12 approved semiconductor units, five already producing. But nine of them are basic assembly and testing plants in the lowest-margin segment, and the AI boom rewards chip design instead.

    What is the chip value chain, and where do India’s units sit?

    1. What it is: A chip passes through design, fabrication (etching circuits onto silicon wafers) and assembly, testing and packaging, like a book written, printed, then bound.
    2. ATMP/OSAT units: Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) or Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly and Test (OSAT) plants do the final step, using dated wire-bond technology and earn about 6% gross margins.
    3. Higher-value segments: Advanced packaging such as CoWoS (joining graphics processors and memory in one package) earns several times more. Chip design by firms owning the intellectual property (IP) earns the most.
    4. Policy so far: The India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for chip design and the IndiaAI Mission were right first moves. ISM 2.0 added Rs 1.275 lakh crore.
    5. The takeaway: India has won investment in the most easily replaced segment, so ISM 2.0 must climb to packaging and design.

    Why will the PLI playbook not work for chips?

    1. China+1 logic: The electronics Production Linked Incentive (PLI) rewards output made in India. It worked because Apple and Samsung wanted to diversify beyond China, and incentives closed the cost gap.
    2. iPhone success: India now assembles 25-28% of all iPhones worldwide.
    3. Architectural revolution: AI is changing chip architecture, not just where chips are made. Eg. Nvidia’s data centre revenue grew about fifteenfold in four years.
    4. Training market closed: AI training chips (used to teach models) now centre on Nvidia’s CUDA software and the largest cloud firms’ custom chips.

    What do other chip powers show about state backing?

    1. Taiwan: It is indispensable because it has mastered semiconductor fabrication.
    2. South Korea: Its main stock index, the KOSPI, returned 72% in 2025, driven by Samsung and SK Hynix in the AI chip supercycle.
    3. China: It has spent an estimated $150 billion on chip self-sufficiency since 2015.
    4. US: The CHIPS Act gave a $53 billion subsidy, drawing $450 billion in private investment.

    Where is India’s opening in AI chips?

    1. Inference is open: Inference (running trained models to answer queries) spans cloud, devices, defence, agriculture and industry, so no single architecture can dominate.
    2. High-margin niche: Purpose-built inference chips command 50-70% gross margins.
    3. Talent and open cores: India has 1,25,000 chip design engineers. The DIR-V programme builds processors on open-source RISC-V designs, so Indian firms avoid paying ARM licensing costs.
    4. Ready demand: IndiaAI’s sovereign compute, defence procurement, 5G and a billion-user market assure buyers.

    Is approving investment the same as building capability?

    1. Easy approvals: The easy path judges success by investment commitments approved, not strategic position gained.
    2. Missing risk capital: No capital carries fabless firms (which design but do not make chips) to commercial tape-out, the final design sent for production.
    3. Technology denial: US curbs on certain AI models show technology denial is a geopolitical tool, and India has long underinvested in technological sovereignty.

    Challenges

    1. Imported tools: Fabs depend on imported equipment. Eg. Dutch ASML lithography machines.
    2. Utility demands: Fabs need uninterrupted power and large volumes of ultrapure water.
    3. Process skills gap: India has many design engineers but few with fab process experience.

    Way Forward

    1. National Semiconductor Research Institute: Government and industry should co-fund an institute for process technology, design IP and talent.
    2. Chip Design Commercialisation Fund: ISM 2.0 should create a Rs 1,000 crore fund modelled on the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), alongside an expanded DLI.
    3. Sovereign inference chips: The next budget should create at least two sovereign AI inference chip programmes with guaranteed government offtake.

    Conclusion

    India’s chip drive has built assembly capacity but not yet a place in the design-led segments where value now lies. The marker to watch is whether the next budget funds design and inference chips rather than more low-margin packaging plants.

    Key numbers

    1. Investment in approved units: Rs 1.64 lakh crore committed (SEMICON India 2026).
    2. Gross margins by segment: advanced packaging 25-35%; IP-owning chip design 50-70%.
    3. Nvidia data centre revenue: $3 billion (2020) to $47 billion (2024).
    4. India’s chip market today: about $45-50 billion.

    Semiconductors in India

    1. ISM framework: ISM’s Rs 76,000 crore framework offers fiscal support of up to 50% for fabs and design.
    2. Market size: India’s chip market is projected to cross $100 billion by 2030.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026] Which of the following statements about DHRUV64 is/are correct? 1. It is the third chip fabricated under the DIR-V Programme to enable creation of microprocessors for India. 2. It is India’s first homegrown 1.0 GHz, 64-bit dual-core microprocessor. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Answer: C”

  • IIT-Delhi researchers build homegrown graphics chip for low-cost devices

    Why in the News

    Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) have built a programmable micro graphics processing unit (GPU) designed in India. The team describes it as the first working, demonstrable indigenously designed micro GPU from a university in India. All GPUs in use in the country are currently imported. The processor is built for graphics and display work rather than for high end artificial intelligence computing, and it runs on a Spartan 7 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) board rather than as a standalone silicon chip. What has been closed is the design gap, and the manufacturing gap is a separate one.

    What is a micro GPU on a Field Programmable Gate Array?

    1. What a graphics processing unit does: A GPU is a processor built for rendering graphics and driving displays, as distinct from a general purpose processor or from the accelerators used for artificial intelligence workloads.
    2. What a Field Programmable Gate Array is: An FPGA is reconfigurable hardware on which a processor design is implemented and run, rather than a chip manufactured for that one design.
    3. How the design is written: The hardware is described in Register Transfer Language (RTL), a hardware description notation, and that description is then implemented on the FPGA platform.
    4. What a fabricated chip would be: An Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) is the same processor design manufactured as a dedicated silicon chip. Moving from an FPGA demonstration to an ASIC is a manufacturing step, not a design step.

    What has the team actually built?

    1. A programmable architecture, not a fixed function block: The team developed a programmable graphics processor architecture capable of graphics rendering, described in Register Transfer Language and implemented on the FPGA platform.
    2. The claim being made: Researchers from the Department of Electrical Engineering state that, to the best of their knowledge, this is the first working, demonstrable indigenously designed micro GPU from a university in India.
    3. The current form of the system: It runs on a Spartan 7 FPGA board rather than as a standalone silicon chip.
    4. The stated objective: The stated aim was a compact but genuinely programmable graphics processing architecture suitable for FPGA implementation and future ASIC realisation.

    Where would such a processor be used?

    1. Industrial and interface displays: Industrial control displays and low cost human machine interfaces are the primary target.
    2. Mobility and navigation: Uses named include e rickshaw dashboard navigators and inland water navigation terminals for small fishing boats.
    3. Education and reading: Educational devices and e book readers are a further target, alongside other affordable embedded visualisation systems.
    4. The form the design takes: The architecture is offered as a scalable, reusable graphics processor design rather than as a finished product, so it can be dropped into different embedded systems.

    Why target low cost embedded uses rather than artificial intelligence computing?

    1. The import position: All GPUs used in India are currently imported, so a domestic design of any class changes a total dependence.
    2. The deliberate scope: The processor is designed for graphics and display applications rather than high end artificial intelligence computing, which is where global GPU competition and cost are concentrated.
    3. The stated purpose: The researchers state that indigenous hardware systems of this kind can support affordable digital access platforms and contribute towards bridging the digital divide.

    What remains between the demonstration and a chip?

    1. Two possible paths: The design can be implemented on programmable hardware such as FPGAs, or converted into an Application Specific Integrated Circuit.
    2. What conversion involves: An ASIC would mean manufacturing the processor design as a dedicated silicon chip. The current work remains at the FPGA demonstration stage.
    3. The next architectural step: The team is exploring an eight to 16 core vector style graphics processor architecture, along with an optimised compiler and a graphics software toolchain.
    4. The fabrication milestone: The longer term plan includes a proof of concept using a 65 nanometre ASIC process.

    Conclusion

    India now holds a graphics processor design it did not hold before. It does not yet hold a graphics processor. The step that would change that is fabrication, and the team’s own roadmap places a silicon proof of concept in the longer term rather than the near one. What to watch is whether the design attracts a foundry commitment, since a demonstration that stays on a reconfigurable board displaces no import.

    Matching Previous Year Question

    “[2026] Which of the following statements about DHRUV64 is/are correct? 1. It is the third chip fabricated under the DIR-V Programme to enable creation of microprocessors for India. 2. It is India’s first homegrown 1.0 GHz, 64-bit dual-core microprocessor. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 Answer: (c)”

  • Cyber Physical Systems and India’s national mission

    Cyber Physical Systems and India’s national mission

    Why in the News

    Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and India’s mission to build national capacity in the field were profiled.

    Core Facts

    1. Definition: Cyber Physical Systems integrate computation, networking and physical processes. Sensors and actuators link software control to physical machines.
    2. Applications: Uses span smart manufacturing, autonomous systems, healthcare and defence.
    3. National effort: The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) drives India’s work in this area.
    4. Nodal department: The Department of Science and Technology (DST) implements the mission.

    Static Context

    1. Mission approval: The mission was approved in 2018 and carries an outlay of about 3,660 crore rupees over five years.
    2. Hub model: The mission set up 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) at institutions such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.
    3. Scope: Covered technologies include Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, robotics and machine learning.

    Prelims Angle

    1. The nodal department for NM-ICPS is the DST.
    2. The mission runs through Technology Innovation Hubs.
    3. The definition of a Cyber Physical System is a likely conceptual hook.

    Mains Angle

    1. GS3, awareness in the field of Information Technology and robotics: A question can ask how emerging technologies serve the economy and national security.
    2. The capacity side: It can probe skilling and research capacity.

    “[2020] With the present state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following?

    (1) Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units

    (2) Create meaningful short stories and songs

    (3) Disease diagnosis

    (4) Text-to-Speech Conversion

    (5) Wireless transmission of electrical energy

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

    (b) 1, 3 and 4 only

    (c) 2, 4 and 5 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

  • Domestic chip design to receive a boost with Rs 1.27 lakh cr push

    Domestic chip design to receive a boost with Rs 1.27 lakh cr push

    Why in the News

    The Centre has notified the operational framework for its Rs 1.27 lakh crore Semicon 2.0 programme, placing the design of Indian chips and the intellectual property behind them at the front of the country’s semiconductor strategy.

    Components of the Semicon 2.0 programme

    1. Support runs across six pillars: At least three of them are devoted entirely to chip design.
    2. Three design incentives are on offer: Chips designed for strategic purposes, chips for the commercial market, and domestically developed chips deployed at scale each attract separate support.
    3. The upstream chain has its own track: Makers of semiconductor materials, chemicals and manufacturing equipment are eligible outside the design pillars.
    4. Fabrication and packaging remain funded: Fabrication plants and advanced chip packaging continue to draw subsidy alongside the design tracks.

    How will the strategic chip design track work?

    1. The government picks the technologies first: It will identify technologies and building blocks, including intellectual property for compute, memory, radio frequency, power, networking and sensors, that it wants developed in India.
    2. The trigger is national importance: The track covers chips meant for areas of national importance and for critical infrastructure.
    3. Selection runs through competitive bidding: The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the government’s high performance computing research organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, will issue requests for proposals and select developers.
    4. The state keeps a share of the intellectual property: The intellectual property created under these projects will be jointly owned by the developing company and C-DAC.
    5. Consortiums are permitted: Indian owned and controlled companies can participate independently or alongside global companies, research organisations and academic institutions.

    What does the commercial design track offer?

    1. The target is a fabless industry: The track aims to build commercially viable Indian fabless chip companies, meaning firms that design chips and contract out their manufacture.
    2. Firms get access to design infrastructure: Eligible firms receive electronic design automation (EDA) tools, multi-project wafer fabrication, intellectual property cores, compute sub-systems and post-silicon validation.
    3. Small firms receive seed money: Start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) designing commercial chips can receive up to Rs 15 crore or 50 per cent of project cost, whichever is lower.
    4. The government can take equity: It can make equity co-investments alongside venture capital or private equity investors.
    5. Large firms repay through royalty: Larger companies can opt for royalty financing and pay 5 per cent of a product’s net revenue until 1.5 times the government’s financial support has been recovered.
    6. Eligibility now reaches Overseas Citizens of India: Companies incorporated and headquartered in India qualify if they are owned and controlled by Indian citizens or Overseas Citizens of India (OCIs) and maintain a significant operational and manpower presence in the country.

    What does the framework do for the upstream supply chain?

    1. Capital support is set at 30 per cent: Research and development facilities for semiconductor equipment, plants making semiconductor grade wafers, photomasks, photoresists, substrates, chemicals and gases, testing facilities, and units producing equipment and components can each claim that share of capital expenditure.
    2. Equipment makers get a declining incentive: A production linked incentive of 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 per cent runs over five years beginning FY 2028-29.
    3. The incentive is tied to domestic sourcing: It is paid on the value of the bill of materials that an equipment maker sources from domestic manufacturers.
    4. Total support carries a ceiling: Combined support for these units is capped at 50 per cent of eligible capital expenditure.
    5. The chain being targeted is largely imported today: The upstream inputs needed to operate semiconductor factories are currently brought in from abroad.

    Challenges to India’s semiconductor design push

    1. A design still has to be turned into silicon: A fabless firm depends on a foundry, and the wafers for an Indian design are fabricated abroad until domestic plants reach production. Eg. Indian design centres of global chip firms already complete chip designs that are fabricated in Taiwan and South Korea.
      The Fix: Tie the later tranches of design support to committed capacity bookings at Indian fabrication plants, so domestic demand and domestic supply arrive together.
    2. The talent sits inside multinational captive centres: India supplies a large share of the world’s chip design engineers, and most of them work on parts of products owned elsewhere. Eg. Global semiconductor companies run large design centres in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Noida.
      The Fix: Subsidise multi-project wafer runs for university teams so student designs reach silicon and full product ownership is learned before graduation.
    3. The design tools are a concentrated import: Electronic design automation software comes from a small number of United States based vendors and is subject to export control. Eg. The United States restricted sales of that software to Chinese customers in 2025 before reversing the order weeks later.
      The Fix: Secure long term licence access inside technology partnership agreements and fund an indigenous tool stack for mature process nodes.
    4. Approved outlay is not disbursed money: A start-up carries the working capital cost of a delayed claim, and slow disbursal has followed earlier electronics incentive schemes. Eg. Disbursals under production linked incentive schemes have repeatedly trailed the amounts approved across sectors.
      The Fix: Set a claim settlement deadline in the scheme guidelines with interest payable on delayed disbursal.
    5. Utilities decide where a plant can go: A fabrication plant requires ultrapure water and uninterrupted power at a scale few industrial locations can guarantee. Eg. Taiwan’s 2021 drought forced its foundries to truck in water and to cut consumption.
      The Fix: Pre-certify candidate sites for water and power reliability before approving a plant at that location.

    Conclusion

    Semicon 2.0 can transform India into a global semiconductor powerhouse by nurturing indigenous chip design, strengthening manufacturing, reducing import dependence, creating high-value jobs, and boosting technological self-reliance.

    Back2Basics: Centre for Development of Advanced Computing

    1. Establishment: Set up in 1988 as a scientific society under what is now the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
    2. Origin: It was created to build indigenous supercomputers after India was refused access to imported high performance computing systems.
    3. Flagship line: It developed the PARAM series of supercomputers, beginning with PARAM 8000 in 1991.
    4. Present mandate: It works on high performance computing, microprocessors, language computing and cyber security, and implements the National Supercomputing Mission alongside the Indian Institute of Science.

    “[2025, GS3, 15 marks] India aims to become a semiconductor manufacturing hub. What are the challenges faced by the semiconductor industry in India? Mention the salient features of the India Semiconductor Mission.”

  • RDI deep-tech fund: most beneficiaries linked to selection panel

    Why in the News

    An investigation found that 15 of the 22 companies receiving the first round of assistance from the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund had investment links with members of the fund’s selection committee. The panel approved Rs 2,192 crore in soft loans, raising concerns over conflict of interest and transparency.

    What is the Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund?

    • Definition: A Rs 1 lakh crore fund to support private sector research in strategic and deep tech sectors.
    • Focus Areas: Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Technology, Space, Defence, Robotics, Clean Energy, Semiconductors and Digital Healthcare.
    • Financial Support: Collateral free loans up to 50% of project cost, at 2 to 4% interest for up to 15 years.
    • Custodian: Managed through a Special Purpose Fund under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF).
    • Fund Managers: Loans are disbursed through Second Level Fund Managers (SLFMs), currently the Technology Development Board (TDB) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC).

    How are companies selected?

    • Investment Committees: Each SLFM forms an independent investment committee to evaluate proposals.
    • Composition: The TDB committee had 12 members, largely from private equity and technology, with one non voting government representative.
    • Eligibility: Projects must have achieved at least Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4, meaning laboratory validation is complete.
    • Selection Criteria: Scientific, technological, financial and commercial viability, with decisions taken by majority vote.

    What did the investigation reveal?

    • Conflict Links: 15 of 22 beneficiaries had investment ties with 7 committee members.
    • Funding Concentration: These firms received over Rs 1,377 crore of the total approved amount.
    • Chairman’s Role: Nine selected firms were linked to the committee chairman, who reportedly also held a personal stake in one beneficiary.
    • Committee’s Defence: Members stated that interests were disclosed and they recused themselves from related decisions.
    • Governance Concern: The episode has renewed demands for stronger safeguards in the use of public funds.

    Existing safeguards

    • Mandatory disclosure of financial interests by committee members.
    • Recusal from decisions involving associated companies.
    • Background verification of applicants by fund managers.
    • Expert driven selection to improve technical assessment.
    • However, only two SLFMs currently operate the scheme, concentrating decision making and highlighting the need for greater transparency.

    Back2Basics: Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund

    • Launched: 2025
    • Corpus: Rs 1 lakh crore
    • Nodal Framework: Operates under the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF)
    • Objective: Provide long term, low cost financing for private sector research in deep tech and strategic sectors.
    • Implementing Agencies: Technology Development Board (TDB) and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) as Second Level Fund Managers.
    • Key Feature: Collateral free loans covering up to 50% of project cost through independent investment committees.

  • CSIR NIScPR AI Enabled Institutional Repositories using DSpace

    Why in News?

    CSIR National Institute of Science Communication and Policy Research (CSIR NIScPR) conducted a five day skill training programme (6 to 10 July 2026) on AI enabled Institutional Repositories using DSpace under the CSIR Integrated Skill Initiative (Phase III).

    Key Highlights

    • Aimed at training library professionals, researchers, academicians, students, and IT professionals.
    • Focused on developing and managing AI enabled institutional repositories using the open source DSpace platform.
    • Training covered:
      • DSpace architecture and administration
      • Linux and DSpace installation
      • Dublin Core metadata management
      • Repository customization and backup
      • AI based metadata extraction and semantic search
    • Included hands on laboratory sessions and exposure to SARAL AI and the NIScPR Herbarium.
    • 25 participants from universities, research institutions, and libraries completed the programme.

    About CSIR NIScPR

    • Constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
    • Established in 2021 through the merger of:
      • NISCAIR: National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources.
      • NISTADS: National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies.
    • Promotes science communication, policy research, scholarly publishing, and digital knowledge management.

    About DSpace

    • Open source software for creating and managing institutional digital repositories.
    • Preserves and provides open access to research publications, theses, datasets, and other scholarly content.
    • Supports metadata standards such as Dublin Core and enables long term digital preservation.

    [2020] With the print state of development, Artificial Intelligence can effectively do which of the following?
    1. Bring down electricity consumption in industrial units
    2. Create meaningful short stories and songs
    3. Disease diagnosis
    4. Text -to -Speech Conversion
    5. Wireless transmission of electrical energy
    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    [A] 1, 2, 3 and 5 only

    [B] 1, 3 and 4 only

    [C] 2, 4 and 5 only

    [D] 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5

  • India’s Emerging Technology Ecosystem

    Why in the news?

    The Government highlighted India’s progress in AI, semiconductors, quantum technologies, supercomputing, cloud computing, blockchain, and biotechnology as key pillars of Viksit Bharat 2047.

    Digital India

    • Internet connections: 25.15 crore (2014) → 102.86 crore (2026).
    • Broadband: 6.1 crore → 99.56 crore.
    • 5G services cover 99.9% of districts.
    • Data cost reduced from ₹269/GB to ₹8-10/GB.

    Supercomputing

    • National Supercomputing Mission (2015): ₹4,500 crore.
    • 38 supercomputers with 47 petaflops capacity.
    • Indigenous PARAM Rudra series developed.

    Semiconductor Ecosystem

    • Semicon India Programme (2021): ₹76,000 crore.
    • ISM 2.0 (2026-27): ₹1,000 crore.
    • 12 projects worth ₹1.64 lakh crore approved.
    • DLI Scheme: 24 companies supported; 7 chips fabricated.

    National Quantum Mission

    • Approved in 2023 with ₹6,003.65 crore.
    • Focus: Quantum Computing, Communication, Sensing, Materials.
    • 1,000 km secure quantum communication network demonstrated.
    • India’s first Quantum Valley coming up in Amaravati.

    IndiaAI Mission

    • Approved in 2024 with ₹10,300+ crore.
    • 38,000+ GPUs common computing facility.
    • AI Kosh: 12,115 datasets and 306 AI models.
    • Around 89% of new startups use AI.

    Cloud Computing

    • MeghRaj: Government cloud platform.
    • 2,323 government departments using MeghRaj (2026).

    Blockchain

    • National Blockchain Framework (2021).
    • 3 crore+ property documents verified through blockchain.
    • Supports Vishvasya Blockchain Stack and Digital Rupee (e₹) pilots.

    Biotechnology

    • Sector size: USD 190 billion (2026).
    • 94 BioNEST incubators across 25 States/UTs.
    • Key initiatives: National Biopharma Mission, BioE3 Policy.

    Research & Skilling

    • ANRF (2024) operationalized.
    • RDI Scheme (2025): ₹1 lakh crore corpus.
    • FutureSkills PRIME: 27.53 lakh registrations.
    • Chips to Startup (C2S): Targets 85,000 semiconductor professionals.

    Global Technology Indicators

    • Global Innovation Index: Rank 81 (2015) → 38 (2025).
    • 2,100+ Global Capability Centres (GCCs) employing 2.36 million professionals.
    • India AI Impact Summit 2026: Declaration adopted by 92 countries.

    [2022] Which one of the following is the context in which the term “qubit” is mentioned?

    [A] Cloud Services

    [B] Quantum Computing

    [C] Visible Light Communication Technologies

    [D] Wireless Communication Technologies

  • How does the 3D printing technology work? List out the advantages and disadvantages of the technology.

  • What is digital signature? What does its authentication mean? Give various salient built in features of a digital signature.

  • Discuss the advantage and security implications of cloud hosting of server vis-a-vis inhouse machine-based hosting for government businesses.