There are only a few countries with companies that can design and/or manufacture chips. Some of the ones that come to my mind off the bat include: the US, China, Taiwan, Japan, France, and Italy. But India did not… That’s until recently as IIT Bombay conceived AJIT the first Indian microprocessor, which was then manufactured at the Semi-Conductor Laboratory (SCL) in Chandigarh, the capital of Punjab and Haryana states.
Details are limited. For example, I’m unable to find out which architecture was used by the processor, but we do know it’s a microcontroller class 32-bit microprocessor clocked at 70 to 120 MHz with an arithmetic logic unit, a memory management unit, a floating point unit, as well as a hardware debugger unit.
The sample pictured above has been manufactured with a 180nm process, but they plan to move to a 65nm process eventually. Tools used for development include AHIR-V2 which has been released in Github. Some of the applications include set-top boxes (not as media chip obviously), control panels for automation systems, traffic light controllers or robotic systems. AJIT should cost around 100 rupees ($1.44) once mass production starts.
It will take a while before the Indian semiconductor sector takes off (if it does), but at least they are building the talent pool, and over time this should allow India to become more independent for critical applications like military or utilities.
You’ll find more details on Reddit (1) and (2), and in an article published on Research Matters.
Via Hacker News
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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