DIR-V Microprocessor Program

In this article we will discuss about  GOI 's big plan with RISC-V architecture. 

RISC-V is pronounced as "risk-five". RISC stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer where five refers to the number of generations of RISC architecture that were developed at the University of California, Berkeley since 1981.  Its an open standard instruction set architecture (ISA) based on established RISC principles. Unlike most other ISA designs, RISC-V is provided under open source licenses that do not require fees to use. A number of companies are offering or have announced RISC-V hardware, open source operating systems with RISC-V support are available, and the instruction set is supported in several popular software tool chains.

 GOI announced the launch of Digital India RISC-V (DIR-V) program. This program is launched with an ambition to deliver world-class silicon by the end of 2023. DIR-V will see Indian industry and academia team to develop Systems on Chips (SoC) for servers, mobile devices, automotive applications, IoT devices, and micro controllers.

Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrashekhar was present on 27th April 2022 during the launch of DIR-V program. Shri Chandrasekhar, a former Intel chip designer who now serves as India’s minister of state for entrepreneurship, skill development, electronics & technology, said DIR-V aims to "achieve industry-grade silicon and design wins by December 2023."This initiative is in line with the government’s ambition toward Atmanirbhar Bharat.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) have developed two microprocessors named Shakti (32 bit) and Vega (64 bit) using open source architecture. The government has appointed IIT-Madras director professor V. Kamakoti as the chief architect and CDAC-Thiruvananthapuram scientist Krishnakumar Rao as the programme manager of the programme.

GOI has announced India has joined RISC-V International as a Premiere Board Member. RISC-V International is the non-profit that oversees RISC-V. This is a clear sign that India is committed to build the semiconductor ecosystem.

The Union Minister further added, “Challenging the status quo, RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) is witnessing a quantum leap and unprecedented levels of processor innovation owing to its free and open nature. Today, there is a thriving ecosystem of chip designers in academia, scientific societies, and startups in the country, contending to gain the market share in RISC-V growing market. ”

He added, “We want at least a few companies to adopt their product designs to DIR-V products Shakti and Vega before 2023-24 and when the silicon is ready, they start manufacturing and incorporating chips in the products. We also believe over the next one and a half years, the partnership between the Shakri and Vega teams and the overall DIR-V program with platform companies like HP, VVDN, Apple, and a large number of companies in the electronic ecosystem will help create design wins around DIR-V family of products Shakti and Vega.”

The DIR-V initiative is a part of the government’s initial ₹76,000 crore effort to build a semiconductor ecosystem in the country. It will consolidate and leverage the ongoing efforts in the country with an integrated multi-institutional and multi-location team, finalize the formal architecture and target performance of chipsets, support original equipment makers and design win in India and abroad. 

According to the government’s vision document, India will use semiconductors worth $70-80 billion to manufacture electronics products worth $300 billion by 2026, . The Center is aiming to make the country self reliant in the semiconductor segment as disruption in supply during recent pandemic situation has led to shortages of chip which in turn increased in input costs for products and services, leading to increasing inflation. 

Courtesy : Jeremy Waterhouse, Sergei Starostin, Miguel-á-Ppadriñán from pexels