Pune: C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing) is developing India’s first indigenously designed microprocessors. The aim of C-DAC is to help the country to become self-reliant in microprocessors development using indigenous design.
General of C-DAC, Magesh Ethirajan, said that in the development of the VEGA series of dual core and quad core microprocessors C-DAC achieved significant progress and two designs are ready for fabrication. He added that the first one is a 32-bit embedded processor which could be used in smart energy meters, smart water and gas meters, IoT devices, multimedia processing and AR/VR application.
“It is a low power, low footprint and low-cost chip which could be deployed for wider applications,” he said. For further development, the technology has been distributed to institutes. They had set an ambitious target of meeting at least 10% of the country’s microprocessor requirement, Ethirajan said.
The company was working closely with industry which could absorb this technology and make it a part of their next-generation product. C-DAC was also approaching the end-users directly which includes government and utility companies. World Bank funding for state governments mandates the use of smart metering for water delivery, so a large quantity of procurement would happen in this segment, Ethirajan said. They had set an ambitious target of meeting at least 10% of the country’s microprocessor requirement, he added.
India is dependent on imports of microprocessors and C-DAC is aiming to reduce it. IIT Madaras is also developing the Shakti series of microprocessors and has also made significant progress in this initiative of making the country self-reliant.
C-DAC has also developed another microprocessor Teja, which is a high-end 64-bit chip with 180-nanometer technology. This is being fabricated at the semiconductor laboratory foundry in Chandigarh. Once these are ready, this would be launched in the market soon, the C-DAC DG said.
