The $8.5B question: Is India’s CHIP MISSION working? | Insider takes from Mindgrove Technologies CEO
Unknown Host (host), Shashwath T R (guest)
In this episode of Best Place To Build, featuring Unknown Host and Shashwath T R, The $8.5B question: Is India’s CHIP MISSION working? | Insider takes from Mindgrove Technologies CEO explores inside India’s chip push: Mindgrove’s strategy, products, and realities today Semiconductors are gaining mass attention in India because they underpin modern digital life and AI, and because government focus and media tailwinds have made the sector feel like it is finally “clicking.”
Inside India’s chip push: Mindgrove’s strategy, products, and realities today
Semiconductors are gaining mass attention in India because they underpin modern digital life and AI, and because government focus and media tailwinds have made the sector feel like it is finally “clicking.”
Mindgrove’s first product, Secure IoT, is a high-performance, security-focused microcontroller built around IIT Madras’s Shakti core and aimed at real-world “middle” markets like biometrics and secure connected devices.
The company claims it is moving from prototype to mass production now, with expectations to reach broader availability through electronics distributors (e.g., Digi-Key/Mouser equivalents) in early 2026.
The discussion argues that “middle” chips are not solved problems: shifting requirements (edge intelligence, faster UX, stronger security, better processes like 28nm) create recurring innovation opportunities.
India’s ecosystem progress is framed as early but real—especially in OSAT/assembly and testing—with DLI/PLI schemes, new facilities, and a growing startup funding signal, while chip development remains slow-cycle and failure-prone compared to software.
Key Takeaways
Semiconductors are the “refinery” behind data and AI.
The episode frames chips as the physical layer that makes AI and digital services possible; as devices become “smart” (cars, locks, sensors), demand rises for embedded compute, connectivity, and security.
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Mindgrove is betting on the “middle” of the market, not bleeding-edge GPUs.
Shashwath argues low-end chips struggle on margins/scale while cutting-edge pits you against entrenched giants; the middle offers high-volume needs with room for differentiation in speed, integration, and security.
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Security is becoming a baseline feature for embedded devices, not an add-on.
Secure IoT targets connected environments where encryption/signing must be fast and reliable; hardware-baked crypto is positioned as essential for biometrics, payments/PoS, and internet-connected control systems.
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Edge intelligence (especially for CCTV) is a key next wave.
Rather than streaming terabytes to central servers and relying on human monitoring, the roadmap points to on-camera processing that transmits only alerts—reducing bandwidth, latency, and security exposure.
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India’s near-term manufacturing momentum is strongest in packaging/assembly (OSAT).
The conversation highlights assembly/testing as the “easiest” manufacturing step to bring up first and calls current announcements and facilities a meaningful start to commercial semiconductor manufacturing locally.
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Chip-building requires a different temperament than software: long cycles and “terror” moments.
Unlike quick iteration in software, tapeouts can mean months of waiting; non-booting silicon triggers systematic debugging and demands tenacity, risk tolerance, and comfort with failure and respins.
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Modern electronics careers are increasingly tool- and ecosystem-driven.
From Arduino/Raspberry Pi democratization to smarter lab equipment and emerging AI copilots, the ability to learn tools quickly—and understand what’s under the hood—becomes as important as fundamentals.
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Notable Quotes
““We make electrons dance, and when the electrons dance, they do useful work.””
— Shashwath T R
““If data is the new oil, semiconductors is the oil refinery which gets the data out.””
— Shashwath T R
““AI doesn’t work without semiconductors.””
— Shashwath T R
““Right now, Secure IoT is more powerful than every computer that I have used in my first twenty years of life.””
— Shashwath T R
““You have to wait for, like, three months… and then you hope, you pray… and then it doesn’t boot. Terror.””
— Shashwath T R
Questions Answered in This Episode
What specific security primitives are “baked into hardware” on Secure IoT (e.g., secure boot, root-of-trust, key storage, accelerators), and what threat model are you designing for?
Semiconductors are gaining mass attention in India because they underpin modern digital life and AI, and because government focus and media tailwinds have made the sector feel like it is finally “clicking.”
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
When you say your chip will be “on the shelves” in early 2026, what does success look like: evaluation boards shipped, design-ins at OEMs, or revenue-scale volume production?
Mindgrove’s first product, Secure IoT, is a high-performance, security-focused microcontroller built around IIT Madras’s Shakti core and aimed at real-world “middle” markets like biometrics and secure connected devices.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
How do you quantify “high-performance” for a microcontroller beyond clock speed—CoreMark, memory bandwidth, I/O throughput, crypto ops/sec, or latency under real sensor workloads?
The company claims it is moving from prototype to mass production now, with expectations to reach broader availability through electronics distributors (e. ...
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
For the planned CCTV/camera chip, what compute will run on-device (detection, tracking, face recognition), and what is the target power/thermal and BOM constraint for Indian manufacturers?
The discussion argues that “middle” chips are not solved problems: shifting requirements (edge intelligence, faster UX, stronger security, better processes like 28nm) create recurring innovation opportunities.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
You mentioned India’s momentum is strongest in OSAT—what parts of your supply chain remain the biggest bottleneck (foundry access, packaging capacity, test, IP blocks, talent, EDA costs)?
India’s ecosystem progress is framed as early but real—especially in OSAT/assembly and testing—with DLI/PLI schemes, new facilities, and a growing startup funding signal, while chip development remains slow-cycle and failure-prone compared to software.
Get the full analysis with uListen AI
Transcript Preview
I wanna ask you before we get into that a bit, uh, just talk to me as if I'm Gen Z. [chuckles] What does a electronics engineer do?
I'll give you a very poetic answer.
Okay.
We make electrons dance, and when the electrons dance, they do useful work that, uh, really comes to the heart of modern life.
Can you give me an example from your early career, like-
On the top level, you're seeing a lot of data is the new oil, and if data is the new oil, semiconductors is the oil refinery which gets the data out. You can hardly go take 10 steps today in the modern world without encountering some kind of electronics, and all of that electronics is underlied by a semiconductor somewhere, which has been manufactured.
Hi, this is Amrit. We are at IIT Madras, my alma mater, and India's top university for people who like to build. We are here to meet some builders, ask them: "What are you building? What does it take to build? And what makes IIT Madras the best place to build?" [upbeat music] Hello, and welcome to The Best Place to Build Podcast. Today, we are sitting with Shashwath. He's the CEO and co-founder of Mindgrove Technologies. It's a semiconductor startup, doing really well. Uh, their office is in the IIT Madras Research Park. I also want to tell you that this will be a little different kind of podcast because we know each other really well. Um, and, um, we are the same age, I think within a few months.
Yeah, something like that.
And, and we're both dads, uh, and very involved dads, so we're gonna be cutting each other a lot. [chuckles]
[chuckles]
So please bear with me. [chuckles] If on the comment section you feel like I'm cutting him off too much, then my apologies in advance. Welcome to the podcast, Shashwath.
Thank you.
Shashwath, I have to ask you a question. What is the deal with semiconductors? Why has it captured everyone's attention? Before you start, I want to tell you, you are the fourth semiconductor guest. We had Sharan, we had Professor Kamakoti, we had Neil Gala, who is the co-founder of, um, Incore. And each of these podcasts, like, the highest views on our channel. [bird screeching] I don't get it. What is happening, boss? [chuckles]
[chuckles] I think... I mean, it's fun, isn't it? It's really fun to be a semiconductor engineer at this time in India. But, um, I think part of what we are seeing right now is what, uh, government has finally... I mean, government has tried it in a lot of different eras, but at this time it feels like it's really clicking, and they're putting so much time, and energy, and effort, and shoveling so much media attention towards where semiconductors is. The second thread is, uh, on the top level, you're seeing a lot of data is the new oil, and if data is the new oil, semiconductors is the oil refinery which gets the data out. AI doesn't work without semiconductors. That's the intelligence part of the artificial intelligence. But, um, there's a deeper undercurrent which is happening. You know, when we were growing up, [harp music] our cars had a mechanical carburetor, which was pushing fuel into the engine.
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