# India targets indigenous GPU within 24 months under Semiconductor Mission 2.0, plans to commercialize SHAKTI and VEGA RISC-V CPUs

> **Key takeaway:** India's MeitY has set a two-year target for developing a domestic GPU while advancing its open-source RISC-V-based SHAKTI and VEGA processors toward commercial markets.

**Published:** 2026-11-05T18:00:00+00:00 
**Source:** Tom's Hardware 
**Category:** open-hardware 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/india-targets-indigenous-gpu-within-24-months-under-semicond.html 

## Summary
S. Krishnan, secretary of India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), announced on November 4 that India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 aims to develop an indigenous GPU chip within approximately 24 months. The initiative is part of a broader five-layer strategy to build domestic AI infrastructure spanning energy, accelerator chips, computing hardware, AI models, and applications. Separately, India is pushing its existing SHAKTI and VEGA processor designs—both based on the open-source RISC-V architecture—toward commercialization, with recent progress including the Aries 3.0 development board featuring C-DAC's VEGA ET301 processor introduced in 2024.

The VEGA ET301 is a 32-bit chip running up to 100MHz with 26KB of SRAM, targeting embedded and IoT applications rather than graphics or desktop workloads. The government has also highlighted practical deployments such as an autonomous water-cleaning robot using SHAKTI at the SEMICOM India event. India's semiconductor ambitions are backed by major foreign partnerships including ASML and Tata Electronics building a 300mm wafer fab in Dholera, Gujarat, and an Intel-Tata Group partnership for manufacturing and packaging, though no specific manufacturer has been named for the proposed GPU.

## RISC-V silicon status and India's GPU roadmap
- **SHAKTI and VEGA architecture:** Both processor families use the open-source RISC-V instruction set architecture, enabling development without proprietary CPU licenses from ARM or x86 vendors.
- **VEGA ET301 specifications:** The 32-bit VEGA ET301 runs at up to 100MHz and includes 26KB of SRAM, positioned for sensors, wearables, and IoT devices rather than general-purpose or graphics computing.
- **Aries 3.0 development board:** Released in 2024, this board provides a hardware platform for developers working with the VEGA ET301 processor.
- **Rudra server range:** C-DAC has developed these AI-workload servers with government technology transfer to local manufacturers including VVDN, Kaynes, and Avalon.
- **Fabrication infrastructure:** ASML is partnering with Tata Electronics for a 300mm wafer fab targeting 50,000 wafers per month capacity in Dholera, Gujarat, with Intel also partnering with Tata for manufacturing and packaging.

## Why it matters
India's commitment to RISC-V-based silicon adds momentum to the open-source ISA as a viable path for nations seeking semiconductor sovereignty outside the ARM/x86 duopoly. For the Linux and open hardware communities, commercialization of SHAKTI and VEGA could expand the pool of RISC-V systems with mainline kernel support, while a domestic GPU effort—if it materializes—would test whether open standards can extend into the accelerator market currently dominated by NVIDIA's proprietary ecosystem.