Context
- Recently, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have developed an indigenous aerospace quality Shakti-based semiconductor chip.
About the Project
- The Shakti class of systems are based on RISC-V (reduced instruction set computing), an open-source instruction set architecture for designing custom processors.
- It aims to promote indigenous development of microprocessor-based products that offer best-in-class security and visibility for users adopting RISC-V technology.
- Shakti is backed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under its Digital India RISC-V initiative (DIRV).
- The ISRO Inertial Systems Unit (IISU) in Thiruvananthapuram proposed a 64-bit RISC-V based controller and partnered with IIT Madras to define the specifications and design of the semiconductor chip.
- This effort is significant as the semiconductor was fully developed in India, conceived by IISU, designed and implemented by IIT Madras, and manufactured in Chandigarh.
- ISRO Chairman V. Narayanan stated that the fully indigenously manufactured chip, created with Indian resources, marks a significant milestone in the ‘Make in India’ initiative for semiconductor design and fabrication.