New Delhi, Jan 17 (NationPress) More than 100,000 individuals have signed up for chip design training initiatives in India, with approximately 67,000 already completed, according to a government announcement made on Saturday.

This initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), aims to bolster India’s self-reliance in chip design, a vital sector for contemporary electronics, green technologies, defense, and emerging innovations.

“Over 100,000 individuals have enrolled in chip design training, with around 67,000 trained so far,” the government stated.

The Chips to Start-up (C2S) Programme, inaugurated in 2022 with a total budget of Rs 250 crore, is central to this initiative.

This programme encompasses nearly 400 organizations, including 305 academic institutions and 95 startups, aiming to educate thousands of students, researchers, and engineers throughout India.

To date, students and institutions have submitted over 75 patents and are working on more than 500 IP cores, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), and System-on-Chip (SoC) designs across various fields such as telecom, automotive, defense, and consumer electronics.

The C2S Programme further promotes the incubation of start-ups, technology transfers, and research publications, with the goal of developing professionals ready for the industry at the B.Tech, M.Tech, and PhD levels.

It has provided B.Tech students with VLSI-oriented coursework and involved PhD scholars in advanced chip design research, while enabling M.Tech graduates to focus on VLSI, embedded systems, and related areas.

As stated by MeitY, this broad-scale programme not only enhances India's talent pool in semiconductors but also fortifies domestic technological capabilities and aids the country’s ambition for global leadership in chip design.

By integrating academic institutions, start-ups, research organizations, and industry partners, the government is establishing a robust ecosystem where innovation, practical learning, and research go hand in hand.

This initiative arrives at a pivotal moment as global semiconductor demand is escalating, and India aspires to minimize its reliance on imports, especially for high-tech and defense applications.