What Are The Salient Features Of India's New Vikram 32-Bit Processor Presented To PM Modi At Semicon India 2025?

At Semicon India 2025, IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw presented Prime MinisterNarendra Modi with India's first-ever ‘Made in Bharat’ semiconductor microchip – the Vikram 32-bit processor. Modi stated the popular saying ‘Oil was black gold, but chips are digital diamonds’ hinting at the government’s aim at catalysing India’s Semiconductor ecosystem. The new microchip is built to power space missions and survive tough launch conditions. Here's a lowdown on the new Vikram 32-bit microchip.

What is the Vikram 32-bit microprocessor?

India's first fully indigenous Vikram 32-bit microprocessor, called VIKRAM3201, has been developed jointly by ISRO's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Chandigarh under the India Semiconductor Mission. It is designed to operate in the harsh environmental conditions of space launch vehicles, reducing dependence on imported space-grade chips.

VIKRAM3201 is backward compatible with the earlier 16-bit VIKRAM1601, which has been used in ISRO’s avionics systems since 2009. It comes with a custom instruction set architecture, support for floating-point computation, and high-level language support for Ada. All development tools including the compiler, assembler, linker, simulator, and integrated development environment have been built in-house by ISRO. The chip also supports open-source software toolchains alongside proprietary simulation and IDE tools.

It has a general-purpose architecture with an instruction set of 152 instructions and employs micro programmed control. It has thirty-two 32-bit registers and can address a maximum of 4096M words of memory.

Fabricated at SCL's 180 nm CMOS semiconductor foundry, the processor is capable of withstanding extreme temperatures from minus 55-degree celsius to plus 125-degree celsius, and it is packaged in a hermetic sealed 181 pin grid array package. Its first production batch was validated in orbit on the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM-4) during the PSLV-C60 mission.

How much progress has India made in the semiconductor manufaturing segment?

Alongside the Vikram 32-bit chip, Vaishnaw also presented other test chips of four approved projects. Modi highlighted that the global semiconductor market has already reached $600 billion, and in the coming years, it is expected to surpass $1 trillion. He expressed confidence that, given the pace at which India is advancing in the semiconductor sector, India will hold a significant share in this $1 trillion market.

He further stated that in total, ten semiconductor projects are now underway, involving an investment of over eighteen billion dollars —more than Rs. 1.5 lakh crore. The Prime Minister emphasised that this reflects the growing global trust in India.

The Prime Minister highlighted that semiconductor parks are being developed across the country under a plug-and-play infrastructure model, which offer facilities such as land, power supply, port and airport connectivity, and access to a skilled worker pool. Modi believes that India is moving beyond backend operations and progressing towards becoming a full-stack semiconductor nation.

Modi also informed that CG Power’s pilot plant commenced operations on August 28, just 4–5 days ago. He added that the pilot plant of Kaynes is also about to begin. Test chips from Micron and Tata are already in production. He reiterated that commercial chip production will begin this year, underscoring the rapid progress India is making in the semiconductor sector.

Published on: Tuesday, September 02, 2025, 01:38 PM IST