To discover, promote, and tutor semiconductor and IP design start-ups across India, Dutch semiconductor manufacturer NXP has initiated the first ‘Semiconductor Start-up Incubation and Acceleration Programme’, in partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Fabless Chip Design Incubator (FabCI), IIT Hyderabad. The software was created with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat in mind, as it will promote India’s vision of being a self-sufficient nation by providing a ready forum for start-ups interested in designing semiconductor chips in India.
In this endeavour, Team India has established a technology start-ups-focused platform with two main initiatives: The Tech Startup Competition, which recognises the most ambitious Indian start-ups’ products associated with NXP companies and innovations, and the Technology Startup Incubator, which nurtures and grooms young start-ups with full enablement, financing, and day-to-day guidance through a special partnership with the government of India and top Academic institutes. “We are confident that this initiative will greatly help our country’s passionate and aspiring entrepreneurs,” says Sanjay Gupta, Vice President and India Country Manager, NXP India.
Every year, the initiative will incubate up to five promising start-ups for two years in each cohort. Participants will include start-ups in semiconductor chip design, IP design, design services with an IP emphasis, and chip design tool start-ups. It will serve as a venue for start-ups to demonstrate their ideas to investors and the corporate community. Furthermore, start-ups chosen for the core programme will receive benefits worth up to Rs 1 crore per year, including EDA tool access for design and simulations, mentoring access during the design and development period, Limited IP Access for processor or interconnect aspects, foundry/packaging access, characterisation lab access, and demo day exposure with NXP.
FabCI is a one-of-a-kind incubator that offers free access to extremely costly EDA software and prototyping, in addition to simple resources. With the introduction of Atmanirbhar Bharat, further start-ups are expected to emerge across different segments of technology, and incubators such as FabCI, with the help of technology experts such as NXP, will improve the start-up ecosystem in the semiconductor industries,” said Prof. BS Murty, director of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad.
Local hardware design and manufacture of goods will reinforce the core technology-driven framework, which is a cornerstone vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat, thus boosting India’s economy, generating jobs, and strengthening India’s role in the global electronics industry.
