Indian startups are advancing from design concepts to practical deployment of edge AI chips, signalling a strategic shift in the country’s semiconductor ambitions supported by government initiatives and industry collaboration at Semicon India 2026.
India’s edge AI chip startups are beginning to move from design work to real-world testing, suggesting the country may be carving out a niche in a part of the semiconductor market where it has more time to catch up. At Semicon India 2026 in New Delhi, Atomo founder Pratik Parmar showcased a circuit board built to let cameras and machines detect fires, count people or flag factory defects without sending data to the cloud. He told CNA that this keeps processing local: “You don’t require the internet or cloud. What happens in your premises stays in your premises.”
These so-called edge AI chips differ from the better-known processors used in large data centres because they are built to carry out inferencing close to the device itself. In practice, that means cameras, cars and factory equipment can analyse information on-site, reducing dependence on connectivity and, in some cases, improving privacy. Atomo’s current board still uses a US-designed Amlogic chip, which the company selected three years ago because Indian alternatives were not yet sufficiently mature. The fact that the startup is now looking at domestically developed options reflects how quickly the local ecosystem is changing.
Government support has helped create that momentum. India’s electronics ministry says 105 startups and small firms have been given access to advanced design tools under a chip-design programme, and about 35 designs have already reached the stage where they are ready for manufacturing. That is still a modest base compared with established global players, but it shows that the country is beginning to build a pipeline from concept to production. Industry executives at the conference said India is late to the race to design chips for AI data centres, but still believes it can compete in edge applications where device-specific design, not scale alone, is the main advantage.
The setting for that push was Semicon India 2026, the fifth edition of the conference and exhibition, which ran from September 17 to 19 at Yashobhoomi in New Delhi. Organised by the India Semiconductor Mission and SEMI, and inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the event was framed around the broader goal of building a full semiconductor ecosystem, from manufacturing to systems integration. Official event materials describe a programme that brings together more than 500 exhibitors, delegates from more than 40 countries and sessions on artificial intelligence, product design, start-ups, supply chains and skilling, underlining how central the sector has become to India’s industrial ambitions.
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