This Indian Startup is Reinventing Chip Design | Neel Gala, CTO/Co-Founder, InCore Semiconductors

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

August 8, 2025

Duration

1h 11m

Channel

Best Place To Build

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

In this compelling episode of The Best Place to Build, host Amrut sits down with Neel Gala, Co-founder and CTO of InCore Semiconductors and a key architect behind India's groundbreaking Shakti Processor project at IIT Madras. Neel reveals how microprocessors power our digital world. He explains why RISC-V—the revolutionary open-source instruction set architecture—has opened unprecedented opportunities for India to develop strategic, indigenous silicon capabilities. His journey from PhD researcher to startup founder exemplifies the grit, technical depth, and vision required to build world-class deep tech from India. 💡 Key themes covered: 00:00 Introduction 00:54 Welcome to the Best Place To Build Podcast 01:31 Introducing Neel Gala | CTO, Co-Founder of InCore Semiconductors 01:49 Understanding Microprocessors 03:04 What is the Shakti Processor? 10:25 The InCore Journey 15:15 What is an IP? 19:44 How is InCore Different From Companies like NVIDIA? 20:55 What Does a Microprocessor Design Life Cycle Look Like? 25:39 The Truth Behind Building Chips 28:00 Exploring the Concept of SoC Generator Platforms 32:00 Why Can’t AI Take Over the Semiconductor Industry 36:00 The Choice to Pursue Higher Studies at IITM Instead of Abroad 40:50 From the Lab to Market: A Journey 45:14 The Road to Being Silicon-Proof 49:21 Tackling the Fear of Attempting 50:20 Scaling Up in the Semiconductor Industry 51:52 The Shift Towards Innovation on Silicon 54:18 What Does RISC-V Mean in the Global Context 59:10 The Genesis of RISC-V 01:02:30 Closing Thoughts & Reflections . 🔧 Whether you’re a chip design enthusiast, aspiring founder, or just curious about RISC-V, semiconductors, or India's role in next-gen computing, this is an episode you can’t afford to miss. 🔔 Subscribe for more stories from the labs and founders shaping the future of innovation at IIT Madras and beyond. #BestPlacetoBuild #semiconductor #building #startup #strategy #techpodcast #chipdesign #business

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Neel Gala

  guest

• Amrut

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Best Place To Build, featuring Neel Gala and Amrut, This Indian Startup is Reinventing Chip Design | Neel Gala, CTO/Co-Founder, InCore Semiconductors explores inCore uses RISC-V and generators to accelerate custom chip design The conversation demystifies what microprocessors, cores, subsystems, and SoCs are, and why chip development is slow, expensive, and uniquely risk-averse compared to software.

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