Sovereignty means controlling a substantial part of the chip supply chain: Mindgrove CEO Shashwath TR

Mindgrove Technologies cofounder and CEO Shashwath TR believes semiconductor sovereignty depends on how much of a chip’s journey India can control, from its design and packaging to the software loaded onto it.

Mindgrove Technologies is a Chennai-headquartered fabless semiconductor design company.

“That is what sovereignty means, right? If you want sovereignty, you need to be able to control a substantial portion of that supply chain by yourself,” Shashwath told ET AI during SEMICON India 2026.


He spoke about why India needs its own chips for products such as CCTV cameras. Shashwath said the concerns go beyond where a chip is designed; companies also need to know what software is placed on it and who can verify that it has not been changed.

Exercising control

“We want the chip to be built, packaged, and programmed inside India,” Shashwath said. “We don't want any external firmware, which is unverified, being loaded on it. At least in India you have that control,” he added.

Firmware is the software that tells a device how to operate.

Shashwath said securing a chip involves checking that software, turning it into a programme the chip can run and verifying that the exact version checked is the one loaded onto the chip.

“Security is one part of it,” Shashwath said. He argued that local chip companies can also work more closely with the Indian manufacturers building products for this market. When a device maker works with a chip supplier overseas, “the lines of communication are long, cultures are different. It’s harder to make things work”.

Referring to Taiwan, he said chip designers, manufacturers and device makers operate close to one another, and the proximity lets them change designs more quickly to solve problems faced by customers.

What Mindgrove controls today

Mindgrove’s own supply chain shows how far that ambition has to go. Shashwath said 85% of the design IP in its chip belongs to the company, but its wafers are manufactured outside India. Assembly, testing and packaging can take place both inside and outside the country, he said.

One version of its chip package was made in Taiwan, while another is being prepared in India, according to Shashwath. Some testing is carried out on the wafer and more takes place after packaging. Asked whether the chip’s production chain could be called Indian, he said, “The entire wafer production chain is outside.”

That could change for future products. Shashwath said Mindgrove is discussing whether its Secure IoT or vision chips could be made at an Indian fab. Its existing S2401 chip, however, cannot be transferred to a different factory. A chip made there would have different characteristics and need a new part number, even if the underlying design remained the same, he said.

An Indian fab would have to meet global commercial standards, Shashwath said. He cited a production yield of around 95% and reliability requirements that can extend to 15 years, depending on the application.

Shashwath said surveillance equipment maker Prama India has signed up for Mindgrove’s vision chip for CCTV cameras, while prospective biometric customers are going through certification. The company has also completed a pilot deployment of its S2401 chip with edtech firm AtumX. Its first S2401 shipments could begin within weeks, initially in the range of hundreds of chips, before rising to tens of thousands around December or January, he added.