On September 2nd, India held a celebration at the Semicon India 2025 event, high-profile tannouncing a "major milestone" in its semiconductor industry to showcase its ambition of becoming a semiconductor power. At the event, India’s Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, presented the domestically developed and manufactured chip—Vikram 3201—to Prime Minister Modi, drawing widespread attention.
Vikram 3201 is India’s first aerospace-grade chip dedicated to rockets and its first self-developed 32-bit microprocessor, with a core design goal of adapting to the extreme environment of space launches. Designed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the chip was manufactured at India’s government-run Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Chandigarh and officially delivered for production as early as March this year.
Both Prime Minister Modi and Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that the successful development of Vikram 3201 marks that India’s semiconductor industry has laid the foundation for rapid development and is a key step in its industrial progress.
However, the industry has taken a calm stance on this "milestone" chip. According to public specifications, Vikram 3201 uses an 180nm process technology, is paired with a proprietary instruction set, and has an operating frequency of only 100MHz. Such specifications lack competitiveness in the current semiconductor market, and it is expected to hardly attract overseas buyers.
More critically, the chip failed to meet the standards expected by foundry customers in the manufacturing process and did not demonstrate potential for large-scale mass production. Overall, Vikram 3201 will be difficult to help India achieve chip self-sufficiency in the short term, and there is still a large gap from India’s goal of becoming a true semiconductor power.
ICgoodFind concludes: India’s attempt at semiconductor localization deserves attention, but industrial development relies on technological breakthroughs and mass production capabilities. While the 180nm process can meet needs in specific fields, it cannot support the improvement of overall industrial competitiveness; subsequent technological iterations and capacity building will be key.
