India is moving towards becoming the next semiconductor ecosystem of the world. Moving a step towards this, the Pune-headquartered Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has joined forces with Qualcomm India to train semiconductor startups from this year. In this regard, the two firms signed an MoU on April 29 and announced Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Program (QSMP).
The world was hit badly during COVID-19 and India was no exception. The country that largely depends on the import of semiconductors and chips, felt the burnt during the pandemic due to the shortfall and paralysed supply chain. This was the time when India realized to become self-reliant in terms of manufacturing semiconductors and chips. The government has taken several steps and made various policies to develop an ecosystem for setting up semiconductor startups.
As a part of this, 10 select semiconductor startups will be trained under QSMP in the maiden year. Every startup will be paired with a Qualcomm India expert for product design development. The program will also include workshops, mentoring and masterclasses, which will be covering testing, design, verification packaging, non-technical areas, government regulations and policies amongst other topics.
As per the MoU, the two organizations will work on product development as per the semiconductor design requirement in the Indian ecosystem. They will also nurture technical and technological advancements in the semiconductor field, facilitate interactions with domain experts, accelerators, incubators and industry associations towards scaling up business. C-DAC and Qualcomm India will also work towards establishing and developing a semiconductor supply chain mechanism in India.
Last week, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi enlisted six reasons for the world to consider India as a semiconductor manufacturing hub. The promote startups to enter the semiconductor space, the government has also extended the Design Linked Incentive (DLI).
Couple of days back, Israel-based ISMC agreed to invest $3 billion in Karnataka to establish the first semiconductor manufacturing unit in Mysuru.
