India plans to develop its first domestically designed graphics processing unit, or GPU, within about two years, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in his first detailed statement on the government's chip plans in a video address to a semiconductor conference on Monday.
The GPU is the central chip for artificial intelligence systems, and the move is part of the second phase of the India Semiconductor Mission, which aims to move India beyond chip assembly into design and fabrication.
Why a homegrown GPU matters
A GPU handles the large-scale calculations needed to train and run artificial intelligence systems. It is the hardware that powers large language models, image generation and other advanced computing applications.
India currently depends on overseas chipmakers for its graphics processors, but the government's AI mission is expected to fund a domestically designed alternative.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, Vaishnaw said a homegrown GPU would be 'an important step' in India's semiconductor ambitions.
Manufacturing progress so far
The semiconductor mission has approved ten chip manufacturing projects, including Tata Electronics' fabrication plant in Dholera, Gujarat, which is expected to start production in 2026.
Vaishnaw told the conference that 33 semiconductor equipment companies, including Applied Materials, Lam Research and the Tata group, are now working in India.
He also said the government's Digital India programme and the India Semiconductor Mission together support 270 academic institutions and 70 startups in semiconductor design.
Partnerships and what is still unclear
India has also announced a partnership with Singapore to develop an alternative high-bandwidth memory design, a move that could reduce dependence on existing suppliers.
Questions remain over funding and market readiness for a domestic GPU, however, and the government has not yet said whether the chip will be aimed at AI training, inference, or other uses.
For now, the government's semiconductor ambitions are only beginning to take shape, and the plan for a homegrown GPU will be tested in the coming months as the mission moves into its next phase.
