Ashwini Vaishnaw announces establishment of Advanced Quantum and AI labs at MNIT Jaipur
Jaipur, June 11
Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Railways and Information & Broadcasting, Ashwini Vaishnaw, on Thursday announced the establishment of an Advanced Quantum Computing and Quantum Communications Lab at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur.
According to the release, the lab will be established under the Electronics and ICT Academic Project of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). It will focus on building indigenous capabilities in Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), Quantum Computing simulation, and Quantum Sensing hardware components.
Addressing students and faculty members, the Union Minister said that while the current technological wave is being driven by AI, the next major technological wave will be led by Quantum Technology.
The Minister stated that the work to be undertaken under this project will be of significant importance for the country. The lab will also undertake research in Quantum Key Distribution (QKD), which is important from a national security perspective, the release stated.
The Union Minister also announced that students of MNIT Jaipur will get access to Lam Research's 'Semiverse' platform. It is a digital twin-based semiconductor fabrication and training ecosystem.
Through Semiverse, students can now study semiconductor chip structures in 3D, understand chip manufacturing processes, and simulate fabrication steps in a virtual environment, the release stated.
Union Minister mentioned that there is a demand for more than a million semiconductor design workforce, as per the industry's estimate. India can easily bridge this gap. Already, companies like NVIDIA, Qualcomm, ARM, & AMD are designing the advanced semiconductor chips of 2 and 3 nm in India. This is possible because of the design workforce.
Vaishnaw said that the Government of India as part of the Chips to Startup (C2S) Programme, is providing Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools to more than 323 universities across the country. These are state-of-the-art semiconductor design tools of leading companies such as Synopsys, Cadence and Renesas, the release stated.
Using these tools, more than 100 student-designed chips from institutions across India have been fabricated at Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali. The Minister encouraged students to make full use of these advanced EDA tools.
Union Minister announced that AI Lab will also be established at MNIT Jaipur. The lab will provide the facilities, including advanced computing and tools for research and innovation.
The focus will be on connecting it with the network of the IndiaAI mission. In this regard, he highlighted the work being carried out by the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur related to deepfake detection technology.
Later, Union Minister, along with Heeralal Nagar, Minister of State (IC) for the Energy Department in the Government of Rajasthan and Gopal Sharma, Member, Rajasthan Member of Legislative Assembly (Civil Lines, Jaipur) inaugurated the Makers Lab at MNIT Jaipur.
Makers Lab will provide students with experiential and hands-on training opportunities in both software and hardware technologies. This will include sensors, embedded systems, compute devices and electronics systems, the release stated.
Earlier during the visit, Vaishnaw interacted with students and faculty members. Students demonstrated several projects and applications in the fields of AI, robotics, drone, structural engineering and post-quantum cryptography.
— ANI
Reader Comments
I'm excited about the Quantum Key Distribution lab for national security. Cybersecurity is such a big issue these days, and India needs to lead in this space. Also, the Lam Research 'Semiverse' platform sounds amazing for hands-on learning in semiconductor fabrication without needing expensive equipment. Hope other NITs get similar facilities soon!
All this is good only if students actually get to use the tools and labs freely. Many government institutes have equipment gathering dust. Need proper faculty training and curriculum integration. Otherwise it's just a photo-op for ministers. Hope MNIT proves me wrong. 🤞
It's heartening to see such focus on emerging tech. The fact that 100+ student-designed chips have already been fabricated at SCL Mohali is proof that our students have the talent. We just need more such labs across the country. Make in India in semiconductor design is becoming real! 🇮🇳
As someone working in this field, I can say these are the right priorities. India's semiconductor design talent is well recognized globally with companies like NVIDIA and Qualcomm doing advanced work here. The quantum lab will be crucial for future communication security. Good to see the government acting on this.
The Makers Lab for hands-on training with sensors and embedded systems is exactly what our engineering education needs. Theory is important but practical skills are where the jobs are. I hope students from all disciplines, not just CS/ECE, can use these facilities. Innovation doesn't follow boundaries. 😊
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