Key Points

Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of the T-CHIP Semicon summit, Dinesh, an innovator and entrepreneur from IIT Hyderabad, said, "This is India's first AI chip, indigenously designed with the technology and the manpower from India. And proudly, it is made in Telangana as well."

He explained that, unlike global rivals, their effort focuses not just on the hardware but also on the complete software ecosystem. "We are offering a complete ecosystem. You can see, right from the software stack to the built-in hardware security and processing of AI on this chip. So right from Python till Silicon, we are reimagining the entire AI hardware and software co-design," he said.

The project, carried out with a small team of less than ten members, highlights the ambition of creating a domestic alternative to foreign chipmakers. "It's all about the motivation and the conviction to build these things. Why Nvidia and why Qualcomm, you know, to buy the chips? Why US and Taiwan chip makers? Why can't we be India's Nvidia or Qualcomm, right from the roots and our talent from this place?" Dinesh said.

He added that the long-term vision is to make AI hardware accessible at lower costs to startups and educational institutions. "If you want to buy NVIDIA or Intel's hardware, it's quite expensive. So unnecessarily we are pouring money into western countries. Instead, we will build something of our own and supply it at low cost and be self-reliant again," he noted.

For Dinesh, initiatives like Pitch2Press are key to gaining visibility and attracting investors. "If we are visible to the community, the greater will be the venture capitalists' attention. And since chip making is a capital-expensive business, we need a lot of investments pouring in. That eventually gives us the leverage and the benefits to design more and more chips, made in India specifically," he said.

A first-of-its-kind initiative called Pitch2Press brought together 111 innovators to present their ideas not to investors, but to journalists.

Highlighting the importance of training local talent, Dinesh stressed that building such chips is not just about innovation but also about building an ecosystem for the future. "We can definitely have this going and train manpower, align them accordingly and bring this semicon ecosystem to the state of Telangana and to the rest of India," he said.

- ANI