C2i Semiconductor tapes out AI power chip, signalling India’s push into advanced chip design

Semiconductor startup C2i Semiconductors on Thursday said it had taped out a smart power stage chip designed for artificial intelligence infrastructure, marking a milestone for the country’s ambitions to build advanced semiconductor products domestically.

The chip, conceived, architected and verified entirely in India by C2i’s engineering team, is designed to regulate and optimise power across AI data centre infrastructure, where rising compute demand has sharply increased energy requirements.

Tape-out, a key stage in semiconductor development where a finalised chip design is sent for fabrication, represents a significant step for India’s nascent chip product ecosystem, which has historically focused more on design services, verification and embedded software than original chip development.

“Designed end-to-end in India by a homegrown team of semiconductor engineers, the milestone demonstrates India’s growing ability to originate complex silicon IP for some of the world’s most demanding compute environments,” the firm said in a statement.

C2i said the milestone demonstrates India’s growing capability to develop complex semiconductor intellectual property for global markets and deeper layers of the AI infrastructure stack.

“The DLI Scheme has financially supported 24 projects and 105 companies for advanced chip design tools,” Amitesh Sinha, chief executive of the India Semiconductor Mission and additional secretary at the Ministry of Electronics and IT, said in a statement.

“C2i’s fundraise followed by design tape-out is a powerful demonstration that Indian innovation can extend across the technology stack, from the power grid to the chip level,” he added.

Backed by Peak XV Partners, C2i said it plans to build a broader pipeline of semiconductor products focused on AI infrastructure and is currently engaging with customers and partners in India and overseas.

“This is a proud moment for our team and a reflection of years of focused engineering effort,” said Ram Anant, chief executive and co-founder of C2i Semiconductors.

“We have built the capability, the team and now the chip, right here in India.”

The announcement comes as India seeks to position itself as a larger player in the global semiconductor supply chain through incentives for chip design, manufacturing and advanced electronics infrastructure.