India’s ambitions to become a global semiconductor and electronics manufacturing hub received a significant boost after Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw praised the progress of the country’s Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme.
The minister highlighted the successful development of India’s first flagship Edge AI System-on-Chip (SoC), the ‘NETRA A2000’, designed by Thiruvananthapuram-based fabless semiconductor startup Netrasemi.
The achievement marks a major milestone for India’s semiconductor ecosystem and demonstrates how government-backed initiatives are helping domestic startups create advanced semiconductor technologies capable of competing in global markets.
The NETRA A2000 chip has successfully completed silicon bring-up—a critical stage in semiconductor development where a newly fabricated chip is powered on and tested for functionality. Following this achievement, the company is now preparing the chip for commercial production.
Speaking about the development, Ashwini Vaishnaw emphasized the positive impact of the government’s semiconductor support initiatives.
“Netrasemi has designed India’s first Edge AI System-on-Chip (SoC) ‘NETRA A2000’, at advanced 12 nm node. At commercial scale, this will power smart vision devices for surveillance, automotive, robotics, drones, etc,” the minister posted on X.
The announcement is being viewed as a validation of India’s efforts to strengthen indigenous semiconductor design capabilities under the broader India Semiconductor Mission.
The development comes at a time when countries around the world are investing heavily in semiconductor technologies due to growing demand for artificial intelligence, edge computing, autonomous systems, and advanced electronics.
India has been working aggressively to reduce dependence on imported semiconductor technologies while creating a vibrant ecosystem of chip design companies, startups, research institutions, and manufacturing partners.
The NETRA A2000 has been specifically designed for Edge AI applications, allowing artificial intelligence processing to happen directly on devices rather than relying entirely on cloud infrastructure.
The chip offers smart vision and real-time video analytics capabilities that enable on-device AI processing for:
The chip has been fabricated using TSMC’s advanced 12nm process technology, one of the most sophisticated nodes currently available for commercial AI applications.
The design focuses on:
One of the standout features of the chip is the extensive use of proprietary intellectual property (IP) developed by Netrasemi.
The chip integrates multiple specialized processing engines, including:
Optimized for machine learning and deep-learning workloads.
Designed to accelerate computer vision tasks and image analysis.
Enhances image quality and enables real-time visual data processing.
Provide robust security and encryption features for sensitive applications.
Enable efficient execution of AI workloads while reducing power consumption.
The chip also incorporates Netrasemi’s patented heterogeneous graph-stream parallel processing architecture, which aims to deliver superior performance and efficiency for real-time AI applications.
Following successful silicon validation, Netrasemi plans to begin commercial production of the chip next year through Taiwan-based semiconductor manufacturing giant TSMC.
The startup intends to share the chip design with selected Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to accelerate product development and create industry-specific solutions.
These partnerships are expected to support:
Highlighting the company's technological approach, Netrasemi Co-founder and CEO Jyothis Indirabhai explained the broader vision behind the chip.
“Our SoCs goes beyond conventional AI/ML integration by combining proprietary hardware acceleration IPs with domain-specific optimisations tailored for high-performance, real-time edge AI,” said Jyothis Indirabhai, Co-founder and CEO, Netrasemi.
He further added:
“We are currently working with several leading OEMs to facilitate early sample evaluations, co-development, and advanced R&D initiatives,” said Indirabhai.
The company believes its architecture can enable faster, more efficient, and lower-latency AI applications across multiple industries.
India’s Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) and Design Infrastructure Support (DIS) schemes have emerged as critical pillars of the country's semiconductor strategy.
The schemes provide:
Netrasemi was among the first four startups selected under the DLI program in 2023 and received Rs 15 crore in support from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
The startup has already secured Rs 125 crore in funding, demonstrating strong investor confidence in India's growing semiconductor design ecosystem.
The successful development of the NETRA A2000 chip represents a significant milestone for India’s semiconductor ambitions and highlights the effectiveness of the government’s Design-Linked Incentive scheme.
By creating an indigenous Edge AI System-on-Chip at the advanced 12nm technology node, Netrasemi has showcased the growing maturity of India's semiconductor design capabilities.
As commercial production begins and collaborations with OEMs expand, the achievement could pave the way for a new generation of Indian-designed AI chips powering surveillance systems, robotics, automotive technologies, drones, and smart infrastructure.
With continued government support and increasing private investment, India is steadily positioning itself as a major player in the global semiconductor and AI innovation landscape.