The Semiconductor Fabless Accelerator Lab (SFAL), a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for fabless semiconductors, which is an initiative towards developing the fabless semiconductor and electronic systems ecosystem in India, has benefited over 90 companies and incubated 43 companies in the last five years, said Karnataka IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge.

Addressing the media at the Vikasa Soudha on Wednesday, Kharge said, “Karnataka is going to be the leader in semiconductors, both in skill and innovation, and more importantly, products. Generally, we have been known as a services nation. The Karnataka government intends for India to become a product nation, because ultimately, we are one of the biggest consumers of anything globally,” adding that if India is serious about becoming a product nation, the only State that can propel this movement is Karnataka.

“We are making Karnataka future-ready by concentrating on two things necessary for semiconductors – skilling and incubation for innovation,” he said, pointing out that India is the second largest consumer of semiconductors globally.

In the past 5 years, Kharge said the State has spent around ₹21.56 crore cumulatively on the CoE. SFAL has supported more than 200 innovations directly and indirectly and generated 800 jobs in the Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector. Start-ups incubated at SFAL have raised ₹140 crore and are collectively valued at ₹500 crore, the minister noted.

Design programme

Alongside, the IT/BT minister said the Karnataka government has launched the K-VLSI Design Programme, in collaboration with the MINRO Center at IIIT Bangalore, IESA and SFAL. The 6-9 month skill development pilot programme is tailored for very large-scale integration (VLSI) design, to equip students with skills necessary for working in the ESDM industry. In the first batch that started in 2023, 700 students had applied of which only 10 per cent were accepted. The minister said this capacity is likely to be increased this year onwards.

“This sector is niche with high-end technology. Our policy is changing the landscape of innovation and technology across the board. Worldwide, only 8-10 countries are doing this. SFAL is a very unique model for the country. States like Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are consulting the government of Karnataka and SFAL to replicate it,” said Kharge.

SFAL has demonstrated a few exits, with companies selected for the Government of India’s Chip 2 Start-up (C2S) and design linked incentive (DLI) programmes and the creation of IPs and product innovations.

Some companies incubated at SFAL are Calligo Technologies Calligo Technologies, a Bangalore-based fabless semiconductor start-up, which has fabricated and manufactured a POSIT-enabled semiconductor chip. Another SFAL-supported company, Morphing Machines is a fabless semiconductor IP products and solutions company that secured $2.76 million in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest. AB Circuits and Research Labs (ABCRL) is a company in the automotive semiconductor industry, which is supposedly dedicated to making vehicles safer and more efficient through smart electronics.