Building on his pioneering work in the semiconductor engineering space, Raja Manickam has launched iVP Semi, a fabless semiconductor startup focused on empowering Indian system companies through localised chip production. iVP Semi aims to drive innovation and development locally with strong system design competence to help chip manufacturers and suppliers, enabling Indian companies to compete both in India and globally.
The company has secured $5M in pre-Series A funding to build India’s presence, scale operations, set up testing facilities, and activate marketing initiatives. As part of this strategy, iVP Semi is setting up chip design centres in Chennai and Bengaluru as well as licensing product IP from Taiwan, Japan and the US.
While being an asset-lite fabless company, chip and module testing will be done internally. iVP Semi is working with the Tamil Nadu government to set up a production test facility of 20,000 sq. ft. in Chennai. The second test facility will come up shortly in one other location in south India.
The Chennai facility will be fully operational by October 2024, and will be equipped with in-house capabilities from design to testing, ensuring high-quality products along with exceptional post-delivery support. It will also feature discreet and power module testing along with reliability and safety certification centres to reduce time to market for iVP Semi customers.
Through its operations in India iVP Semi will predominantly service the local renewables, EV, and automotive industries. The company aims to achieve a revenue of $70 million to $100 million in the next two to three years.
Commenting on the launch of iVP Semi, Raja Manickam, Founder & CEO, iVP Semi, said “As a startup, iVP Semi recognises the challenges faced by Indian semiconductor startups that aimed for the global market from the outset. Many struggled to survive due to the time and financial resources required to compete with established giants. Hence, our mission is to localise semiconductor chip production, empowering Indian companies to improve product development cycles and achieve greater technological autonomy. This approach not only ensures tighter control over the chip supply chain but also fosters an environment where semiconductor ecosystem partners are encouraged to establish a local presence. We envision a ripple effect where technology solutions developed by Indian companies will address global challenges, benefiting everyone.”
On this occasion, S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, said, “The semiconductor industry is vital for the country and India has the talent, deep expertise, and scalability to be a global player. The Government is helping industries to create the ecosystem to build semiconductors. iVP Semi plays an important role in creating demand to fill up the manufacturing capacity in wafer fab and OSAT. I would like to congratulate iVP Semi on the creation of an Indian fabless chip company.”
Earlier this year, McKinsey predicted that the global is poised for a decade of growth and is projected to become a trillion-dollar industry by 2030 while India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA) estimates India to grow to a $100 billion market by 2030.
India is rapidly becoming one of the biggest markets for electronics, and automotive, specifically EVs, and a significant hub for technical expertise, highlighting the necessity to enhance the Indian ecosystem. However, challenges such as complexity in manufacturing, dominant global players holding a significant market share, lack of production-grade technology, high capital costs and so on still persist, hindering India’s journey towards self-sufficiency.
