Best Place To BuildSharan Srinivas | CTO, Mindgrove Technologies | “You have to be crazy to want to make silicon”| Ep.9
Sharan Srinivas on mindgrove CTO explains building chips, India’s mission, and failure..
In this episode of Best Place To Build, featuring Sharan Srinivas, Sharan Srinivas | CTO, Mindgrove Technologies | “You have to be crazy to want to make silicon”| Ep.9 explores mindgrove CTO explains building chips, India’s mission, and failure. Mindgrove raised about $8M in Series A, with returning investors doubling down and new participation from Rocketship VC and Mela Ventures, plus approval under India’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme worth ~₹15 crore upon milestones.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Mindgrove CTO explains building chips, India’s mission, and failure.
- Mindgrove raised about $8M in Series A, with returning investors doubling down and new participation from Rocketship VC and Mela Ventures, plus approval under India’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme worth ~₹15 crore upon milestones.
- The episode breaks down the semiconductor value chain—fabless design, foundries, and OSAT/ATMP packaging/testing—using concrete examples like TSMC (manufacturing), ASML (lithography machines), and the ‘die vs package’ distinction.
- Srinivas explains why ‘nm’ is now largely a node label, why leading-edge (e.g., 3nm) improves performance-per-watt but is exponentially costlier, and why 28nm is a practical “Goldilocks node” for embedded and industrial use cases.
- Mindgrove’s first commercial chip, SecureIoT (28nm), is positioned as India’s first commercial-grade high-performance microcontroller SoC built around the IIT Madras Shakti C-Class processor, bridging academic demonstration to sellable product.
- The discussion frames India’s semiconductor push as both strategic sovereignty (“new oil”) and employment/economic ecosystem building, emphasizing that fabs seed wide supplier and services job creation rather than being the sole job engine.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasFabless startups win by focusing on design, outsourcing manufacturing complexity.
Mindgrove positions itself as a pure-play design house: it designs the chip, uses external foundries for fabrication and external OSAT/ATMP partners for assembly/testing, then sells packaged chips—mirroring models like Qualcomm and NVIDIA.
‘Nanometer’ is no longer a literal transistor dimension—treat it as a capability/cost tier.
Srinivas notes that 3nm is partly branding and no longer maps cleanly to a single physical dimension, but it still signals higher density and better performance-per-watt—at dramatically higher tool and manufacturing costs.
28nm remains highly competitive for embedded markets where constraints differ from smartphones.
Embedded/industrial systems often prioritize voltage ranges, electrical characteristics, reliability, and cost over extreme compute density; Mindgrove calls 28nm a “Goldilocks node” that balances performance and power without leading-edge expense.
Commercial-grade silicon is fundamentally different from a research demonstrator.
RISE/Shakti proved feasibility with academic tooling and tape-outs, but commercialization requires sellable-grade reliability, packaging/testing readiness, and use of commercial EDA licenses—turning “it works” into “it ships.”
SoC value comes from integrating the whole system, not just the CPU core.
SecureIoT is framed as a full “system on chip” including the processor, memories/caches, peripherals, and interconnect—similar in concept to Snapdragon, but far smaller and targeted to specific embedded use cases.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotes“You have to be a special grade of mental… to be able to want to make silicon in today’s world.”
— Sharan Srinivas
“It will come when you make it.”
— Sharan Srinivas (quoting Prof. V. Kamakoti’s response about getting a Shakti chip)
“The ecosystem is set up for you to fail safely. Are you willing to accept that failure?”
— Sharan Srinivas
“A three nanometer node is exponentially more expensive than a 28 nanometer.”
— Sharan Srinivas
“I’ll give you $100 million to spend. How long will it take you to spend? … Five minutes flat.”
— Sharan Srinivas
QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE
5 questionsFor SecureIoT, what specific hardware security primitives are on-chip (e.g., secure boot, key storage, crypto accelerators), and which threats are you explicitly targeting?
Mindgrove raised about $8M in Series A, with returning investors doubling down and new participation from Rocketship VC and Mela Ventures, plus approval under India’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme worth ~₹15 crore upon milestones.
You chose 28nm as a “Goldilocks node”—what were the concrete trade-offs (cost, power, analog/IO, availability of fabs/OSAT, longevity) that ruled out 40/65/90nm or 22nm?
The episode breaks down the semiconductor value chain—fabless design, foundries, and OSAT/ATMP packaging/testing—using concrete examples like TSMC (manufacturing), ASML (lithography machines), and the ‘die vs package’ distinction.
What were the biggest changes required to move Shakti C-Class from an IITM technology demonstrator to a commercial-grade microcontroller SoC?
Srinivas explains why ‘nm’ is now largely a node label, why leading-edge (e.g., 3nm) improves performance-per-watt but is exponentially costlier, and why 28nm is a practical “Goldilocks node” for embedded and industrial use cases.
On Vision SoC, what is the planned compute mix (CPU/DSP/NPU/ISP), and which computer-vision workloads (encoding/analytics/inference) are you optimizing for first?
Mindgrove’s first commercial chip, SecureIoT (28nm), is positioned as India’s first commercial-grade high-performance microcontroller SoC built around the IIT Madras Shakti C-Class processor, bridging academic demonstration to sellable product.
You mentioned manufacturability checks (DRC/dry runs)—what were the most common late-stage design issues you had to catch before tape-out?
The discussion frames India’s semiconductor push as both strategic sovereignty (“new oil”) and employment/economic ecosystem building, emphasizing that fabs seed wide supplier and services job creation rather than being the sole job engine.
Chapter Breakdown
Mindgrove’s Series A: $8M raise + India’s DLI approval
Sharan opens by sharing Mindgrove’s Series A update, highlighting returning investors doubling down and two new funds joining the cap table. He also explains the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme approval and how it de-risks early chip productization by tying incentives to milestones.
Semiconductors 101: why chips underpin almost everything digital
The conversation frames semiconductors as the foundation of modern digital life—from phones and cloud servers to UPI soundboxes and induction stoves. Sharan emphasizes that “digital” at any scale is impossible without chips and supporting electronic components.
The ecosystem map: fabless design, foundries, and integrated players
Sharan lays out the core business models: fabless design houses, pure-play foundries, and integrated device manufacturers. Mindgrove positions itself as a fabless company focused on design and sales while outsourcing fabrication and testing.
From wafer to package: how chips are physically made and finished
The discussion walks through how a circular silicon wafer is patterned into many dies and then cut, packaged, and connected to the outside world. Sharan clarifies key terms like die, package, OSAT, and ATMP, connecting abstract jargon to the black chip packages people recognize.
3nm vs 28nm: what ‘nm’ really means and why leading-edge is so hard
Sharan explains how “nanometer” has shifted from a literal transistor dimension to a node label correlated with density and efficiency. He illustrates the extreme complexity and cost of leading-edge manufacturing equipment, using ASML’s EUV machines and the logistics of shipping them as examples.
Why Mindgrove chose 28nm: the ‘Goldilocks’ node for embedded products
Mindgrove deliberately targets 28nm because its products serve embedded markets where cost, robustness, and specific electrical characteristics matter more than smartphone-class peak performance. Sharan ties node choice to user experience (lag, buffering, battery) and the economics of scaling a startup chip business.
SecureIoT: India’s commercial-grade microcontroller SoC built on Shakti
Sharan introduces Mindgrove’s first chip prototype, SecureIoT, describing it as a security-oriented IoT SoC targeting access control, biometrics, appliances, and industrial controllers. He highlights the use of IIT Madras’s Shakti C-Class processor and what “commercial-grade” means compared to a technology demo.
SoC architecture made simple: what’s inside a ‘system on chip’
The episode breaks down what qualifies as an SoC: processor plus memory hierarchy, peripherals, interconnect, and the components needed to function as a complete system. Sharan compares SecureIoT to smartphone SoCs like Snapdragon, emphasizing scale differences and integration tradeoffs.
Vision SoC: the next product line for computer-vision edge devices
Sharan previews Mindgrove’s next chip, Vision SoC, aimed at camera-centric and vision-processing workloads such as CCTV and infotainment. He explains it as a multi-core evolution (from single-core SecureIoT to a quad-core design in progress) and frames it as the start of a family of chips rather than a one-off.
India Semiconductor Mission: strategic autonomy, import bill, and jobs
The conversation broadens to why nations are investing heavily in semiconductors (CHIPS Act, Japan, Germany, India). Sharan argues chips are “the new oil,” critical for sustaining a digital economy, reducing strategic dependency, and creating a large skilled-employment base via ecosystem effects beyond fabs themselves.
RISE Lab and the ‘industry–academia bridge’: moving from demo to product
Sharan explains RISE Lab as a multi-professor, multi-student collaborative environment that builds breadth and depth needed for chip design and systems validation. The discussion highlights how academia proves feasibility (technology demonstrators), while startups commercialize—symbolized by IIT Madras Research Park’s literal ‘industry-academia bridge.’
Working with government and institutions: ‘IITM speed vs startup speed vs government speed’
Sharan describes navigating institutional complexity by being systematic and compliance-focused, while acknowledging different operational tempos. He praises the DLI/ISM teams for being engaged and responsive despite unavoidable procedural layers, and notes the need for dedicated effort to manage statutory and reporting demands.
How they moved fast: 8-month chip execution + the real costs (tools, licenses, infra)
Sharan recounts that SecureIoT’s design execution took ~8 months, enabled by prior market discovery and access to IITM infrastructure. He clarifies why universities can tape out demos but not sell chips due to licensing, and how incubator-negotiated commercial tool licenses and shared facilities are crucial to building sellable silicon.
‘It will come when you make it’: Shakti’s commercialization and the insanity of silicon
Sharan shares the turning point: asking when Shakti would be available as a chip and being told to build it themselves. He explains why making silicon is dominated by giant incumbents and why capital can be spent instantly on advanced nodes—making strategic restraint and clear business paths essential for startups.
Failure tolerance, personal resilience, and finding balance outside the lab
The closing section emphasizes the ability to fail safely and learn when to persist versus stop. Sharan shares a formative failure story from ETH Zurich and connects it to handling startup setbacks, then ends with how he decompresses—sleep, cooking, cleaning, cricket, and ‘mindless’ movies.
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