Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) program

The launch of the Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) program was announced on 27th April 2022 by the government of India with the aim of creating Microprocessors for the country’s and the world’s future and to achieve industry-grade commercial silicon and design for the next generation of microprocessors by the month of December 2023.

Overview:

• RISC-V is an open and free ISA that will enable a new era of processor innovation through collaboration.
• This initiative is in line with the government’s ambition toward Atmanirbhar Bharat.

About DIR-V program:

DIR-V will be witnessing partnerships between academia, start-ups, and multinationals with the aim of making India not a talent hub of RISC-V as well as a supplier of RISC-V SoC (System on Chips) to the world for mobile devices, servers, IoT, automotive, microcontrollers, etc.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship unveiled the blueprint for the roadmap of implementation and design of the DIR-V Program with the VEGA Processor by C-DAC and the SHAKTI Processor by IIT Madras. Along with this, the strategic roadmap for the country’s semiconductor innovation and design to catalyze the semiconductor ecosystem was also unveiled.