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The 35thInternational VLSI & Embedded Systems Conference, 2022 was officially inaugurated today, 28th Feb, 2022 at a virtual event with a clutch of top Semiconductor leaders and Govt. dignitaries.

Chief Guest Sh. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Hon. (Minister of State for Electronics, IT, Skill & Entrepreneurship) addressing the inaugural ceremony of 35th International VLSI Conference, 2022

The inaugural ceremony of the prestigious symposium witnessed a remarkable number of 5000 plus registrants, 14 key notes, 16 Tutorials, 53 papers, 3 expert panels, 10 user design sessions, 30 exhibits, 14 industry forum sessions, 45 design contest entries and over 40 sponsors. The ceremony was addressed by Chief Guest Sh. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Hon’ble (Minister of State for Electronics, IT, Skill & Entrepreneurship), Guest of Honour, Dr. Ashwath Narayan CN, Hon’ble Minister of Electronics, IT, Bio-tech, Science & Technology).

Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Honble MoS, Electronics & IT and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Govt. of India started his speech by acknowledging the remarkable launch of latest semiconductor policy by honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which he believes had been a huge confidence booster for the industry and laid out the vision for Indian technology and innovation eco system. He reiterated that PM’s vision about next 10 years being the most important decade for Indian technology sector, resonates how impactful technology can be in changing the lives of all the citizens. Investment of the government capital in building talent, entrepreneurship, design ecosystem and technologies like RISC-V will help further strengthen our focus on building a technology nation. Partnership between Industry, academia and government is critical to make these efforts successful. I have never felt more confident in my last 3 decades in technology sector about realizing the potential of this important sector. Market demand, depth of innovation and government policies will be catalyst in creating sustainable leadership for India in Semiconductor and VLSI Design.

He envisioned that this varied mix of critical policies and able leadership should be a good starting point for an unprecedented growth and expansion in semiconductor technology domain. He shared that as govt. their key ambition is to narrow down their focus on building India’s own design and development capabilities. He emphasised that the partnership between Industry, Academia and Govt. will be defining the semiconductor and VLSI eco system in India and outside.

Dr. Ashwath Narayan C N, Honble Minister of Higher Education, IT & BT, Science & Technology, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship & Livelihood, Govt. of Karnataka said In Karnataka, we have completely revamped/revived from ITI to Polytechnic, Engineering, Degree education in all levels. From school to higher education, we have upgraded ourselves to industry 4.0 and our facility and infrastructure is at international standards. We want to have complete utilization of all available resources, have the entire industry be a part of the academia and design the organization structure in such a way that it becomes much better than the model institutions like IIT and IIM. Our ultimate aim is to be able to cater to the manpower requirement of the entire world.

Dr. Satya Gupta, President, VLSI Society of India, Advisor, IESA, noted that A Semiconductor Chip is used in all technology products we use continuously in our day to day life, be it a Washing Machine, Smart Watch, Oximeter or anything else. Semiconductor technology has seen astronomical growth over the last 50 years. In 1971, when Intel announced the 4004 processor, it had approximately 2300 tied transistor devices powering the microprocessor. Today, there are more than 60 billion transistors in a tiny chip which is slightly bigger than 1.1 inch – this is, by any standard, mind boggling growth of technology in this area. Because of the power of chips, they are at the heart of every industry vertical and semiconductor technology has become the most important technology for economic, information, infrastructure and strategic security. The latest emphasis on the semiconductor ecosystem in India and world over, has created need for more than 2 Lakh VLSI Design engineers and more than 10,000 skilled technicians for designing the chips and manufacturing in the semiconductor fab.

Anil Kempanna, General Chair, VLSID 2022, Vice President – IOTG, Intel welcomed all participants referring to the event as not only a platform but a confluence of all the stakeholders in the ecosystem. He noted that VLSID Committee is immensely proud to have built a robust technical program consisting of key note speeches including both global and domestic experts, tutorials, papers and posters and they are hopeful that the conference will not only meet but surpass all expectations this year. An elated Kempanna also mentioned that this year’s conference marked the highest ever number of technical paper submission. He extended his gratitude to both Central and State Govt. dignitaries for fostering semiconductor VLSI industry in India. He noted that the committee is highly motivated by the visionaries and leaders who brought India’s semiconductor dream to reality with the launch of the latest semiconductor policy. The team is optimistic that this will prove to be a remarkable and inspirational milestone for realising India’s semiconductor dream and potentials. He reiterated that a “Technology Convergence” is the word of future and collaborative effort is need of the hour to build unmatched capabilities, path breaking competencies, tactical strategies and propel investments both within and outside the country.

Some of the other eminent dignitaries and guests that attended today’s inaugural ceremony were Nick McKeown, (SVP/GM, Intel Corporation, Prof. Stanford University), Prof. Vishwani Agrawal, (Professor Emeritus, Auburn University), Dr. Satya Gupta, (President, VLSI Society of India), Sambit Sahu, (V.P. & G.M. IoTG, Intel Corporation, Executive Chair, VLSID 2022), Balajee S. (Corporate V.P. & MD, Semiconductor Electronics R&D Centre, Executive Chair, VLSID 2022 ). The event is supported by some of the leading brands including Intel, Samsung, Siemens, Cadence, Qualcomm and Synopsys.