🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Vervesemi fits into India’s semiconductor self-reliance plan

• Vervesemi’s funding aligns with India’s national drive for semiconductor self-reliance 1.
• It is in the first cohort approved under the government’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme. It is also approved under the Chips to Startup (C2S) program 1.
• The wider effort includes a planned ₹760 billion budget announced in 2021 for semiconductor projects, with the aim of building a resilient domestic semiconductor ecosystem 2.
• Founded in 2017, Vervesemi has 110+ intellectual properties (IPs). It is among the first Indian companies to export semiconductor IPs globally 1.

India is building a chip design ecosystem beyond fabs

• The funding matches India’s plan to grow chip design capabilities before competing in advanced manufacturing.
• Policy support favors fabless companies (chip designers that outsource manufacturing). The approach values niche IP such as Vervesemi’s analog integrated circuits (ICs) for aerospace. Giant foundries (companies that manufacture chips for others) are not the near-term target.
• Other startups follow a similar path. AGNIT Semiconductors is developing Gallium Nitride (GaN) chips for defense. InCore Semiconductors is creating RISC-V (an open instruction set architecture used to build processors) processors for edge AI devices 2.
• An IP-led path helps India join the global supply chain at the high-margin design stage. It supports the ambition of having “designed-in-India” chips in devices worldwide 1.