SEMICON India 2026 Showcases Indigenous Chip Design and Systems Push
SEMICON India 2026 in New Delhi displayed India's expanding semiconductor ecosystem, from indigenous RISC-V processors to AI chips and start-up innovation.
The fifth edition of SEMICON India, held at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi from 17 to 19 September 2026, brought together more than 600 exhibiting companies from various countries under the theme "Silicon to Systems: Building the Ecosystem." The three-day event assembled industry leaders, policymakers, investors, academia and start-ups, with dedicated Start-up, Workforce Development, country and state pavilions, alongside a hackathon.
Indigenous Computing on Display
C-DAC presented its high-performance computing and AI work, including the AUM HPC-AI Processor and the RUDRA-AUM compute node. Its indigenously developed 64-bit RISC-V processor, built on the open architecture, supports high-performance computing and emerging digital applications. InCore Semiconductors showcased RISC-V processor IPs and SoC design automation tools, with silicon-proven IP across technology nodes from 180 nm to 16 nm, targeting embedded systems and edge-AI use cases.
Aheesa Technology displayed an indigenous internet connectivity device delivering speeds up to 1 Gbps, allowing ISPs to connect roughly 64 homes through a single Optical Line Terminal. The device runs on Vihan, a software platform developed entirely in India, and is powered by C-DAC's 64-bit RISC-V processor.
Chips for Everyday and Intelligent Applications
Vervesemi Microelectronics was among the Indian chip-design firms highlighted, developing semiconductor solutions for motor control, energy meters and data acquisition, with chips for consumer appliances, electric mobility and drones. Netrasemi, a semiconductor start-up, showcased AI-capable System-on-Chips for secure surveillance, smart sensors, robotics, drones and mobility, having taped out an indigenously designed AI SoC for CCTV surveillance on the 12 nm process node with integrated AI/ML accelerators, vision processing and video engines.
Policy and Talent Backbone
Semicon 2.0, approved by the Union Cabinet in July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, rests on six pillars: design; machines and materials; more fabs; advanced packaging; research and development; and talent development. Under the Semicon India Programme, 12 semiconductor projects have been approved across six states, with investment commitments exceeding ₹1.64 lakh crore.
The Design Linked Incentive Scheme has supported domestic chip-design projects in areas such as video surveillance, drone detection, energy meters, microprocessors, satellite communications, broadband and IoT SoCs. The Chips to Startup Programme has onboarded more than one lakh engineers from over 500 organisations, including 400 academic institutions and 100 start-ups, through the ChipIN Centre, providing access to advanced design tools, fabrication services and training. Together they have developed over 300 chip designs for fabrication in India and abroad and recorded more than four crore hours of chip-design tool usage.