India’s chip dream gets a big boost: Aheesa’s indigenous VIHAAN SoC clears first major test

VIHAAN, a networking SoC purpose-built for fibre broadband applications, will now move towards production tape-out, targeted for 2027.

As India expands its digital infrastructure through optical fibre, 5G and broadband-led services, the demand for domestically designed semiconductor solutions is growing. Through its VIHAAN series, successive funding milestones and support under the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, Aheesa is seeking to address this emerging demand.

Investor confidence in India's deep-tech ecosystem

Earlier this year, Aheesa raised around ₹40 crore from the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Corporation (TNIFMC) through the Tamil Nadu Emerging Sector Seed Fund (TNESSF), along with other private investors, to accelerate product development and support its growth in the semiconductor sector.

The successive funding rounds following the company's approval under the DLI Scheme reflect growing investor confidence in Aheesa's ability to develop advanced broadband silicon solutions in India.

Government support helps Indian chip companies move from idea to product

Aheesa's achievement comes amid a broader transformation in India's semiconductor design ecosystem.

Under the government's semiconductor programmes, state-of-the-art chip-design tools have been made available to 455 organisations, including 350 academic institutions and 105 startups, enabling students, researchers and companies across the country to design and develop chips.

Companies supported under the DLI Scheme have cumulatively achieved more than 30 chip-design tape-outs across various foundries and raised over $100 million in venture capital funding, highlighting growing investor confidence in India's semiconductor design capabilities.

Under the Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme, 245 chip designs have been taped out by 71 academic institutions to help meet the country's future semiconductor workforce requirements.

Other recent successes under the scheme

Several other semiconductor companies supported through government initiatives have also reported recent milestones:

Vervesemi Microelectronics achieved first-pass silicon success for a BLDC motor controller chip using an indigenous microprocessor developed by InCore Semiconductor, along with its motor-driver chip.

Netrasemi successfully tested its 12nm Vision SoC with integrated video-analytics acceleration.

OptoML received its 12nm compute-in-memory SoC, designed to make AI processing faster and more power-efficient.

Mindgrove Technologies announced a partnership with PRAMA India to explore the use of its Vision SoC in CCTV surveillance cameras.

IndieSemiC secured global certification for its Bluetooth (BLE 6) chip module.

Building an Indian semiconductor ecosystem

The government's semiconductor initiatives are aimed not only at developing individual chips but also at building a comprehensive semiconductor ecosystem covering the entire value chain—from chip design and manufacturing to advanced packaging, equipment, materials, research and development, and skilled manpower.

With Semicon 2.0, approved in July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, India is seeking to take its semiconductor ambitions to the next level and build a globally competitive semiconductor ecosystem.