India’s First Indigenous Edge AI Chip Reaches Major Milestone, Set for Commercial Production

India’s semiconductor ambitions gain momentum as Netrasemi’s NETRA A2000, the country’s first Edge AI System-on-Chip built on a 12-nanometre node, achieves successful silicon bring-up. Backed by the Design-Linked Incentive scheme, the chip is set for commercial production and targets applications in surveillance, robotics, automobiles, drones, and smart vision systems.

India’s ambitions in the global semiconductor race received a significant boost as the country’s first flagship Edge Artificial Intelligence System-on-Chip (SoC), the NETRA A2000, successfully achieved silicon bring-up and is now preparing for commercial production. Developed by Thiruvananthapuram-based fabless semiconductor startup Netrasemi, the advanced chip marks a major breakthrough under the Government of India’s Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw hailed the achievement, stating that the DLI scheme is delivering strong results and helping accelerate the country’s semiconductor design ecosystem. In a post on X, the minister said Netrasemi has designed India’s first Edge AI System-on-Chip, NETRA A2000, using an advanced 12-nanometre technology node. He noted that at commercial scale, the chip will power smart vision devices used in surveillance systems, automobiles, robotics, drones, and other advanced applications.

The NETRA A2000 chip is equipped with smart vision and real-time video analytics capabilities, enabling on-device artificial intelligence processing for smart cameras and Edge AI platforms. Fabricated using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s advanced 12-nanometre process technology, the chip is designed to deliver high artificial intelligence processing performance measured in trillions of operations per second, while supporting computer vision, video streaming, secure boot functions, and extensive input-output capabilities.

The advanced semiconductor integrates several proprietary technologies developed by Netrasemi, including an in-house Neural Processing Unit, Vision Processing Units, an Image Signal Processor, cryptographic engines, and multiple hardware acceleration intellectual property cores. The chip also incorporates the company’s patented heterogeneous graph-stream parallel processing architecture, designed to optimize high-performance real-time Edge AI workloads.

According to the company, the chip design will be shared with selected original equipment manufacturers for joint research and development initiatives aimed at expanding commercial applications. Commercial production of the NETRA A2000 is expected to begin next year at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company facilities in Taiwan.

Netrasemi Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jyothis Indirabhai said the company’s System-on-Chip solutions go beyond conventional artificial intelligence and machine learning integration by combining proprietary hardware acceleration technologies with domain-specific optimizations tailored for high-performance, real-time Edge AI applications. He added that the company is currently collaborating with several leading original equipment manufacturers to support early sample evaluations, co-development projects, and advanced research and development programs.

The milestone has been supported by the Semiconductor Design-Linked Incentive and Design Infrastructure Support schemes, which have played a crucial role in advancing the project. Netrasemi was among the first four startups selected for financial assistance of ₹15 crore under the Design-Linked Incentive scheme in 2023 by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

The company has raised a total of ₹125 crore in funding to date, underscoring growing investor confidence in India’s semiconductor sector. The successful development of the NETRA A2000 represents a landmark achievement for the country’s chip design ecosystem and signals India’s increasing capability to create advanced semiconductor technologies for global markets.