India recently unveiled its first fully indigenous semiconductor chip, the Vikram 32-bit processor, developed by ISRO’s Semiconductor Laboratory. The chip was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw during Semicon India 2025, held in New Delhi.
The Vikram chip is specially built to survive the harsh conditions of space launch vehicles, handling extreme temperatures, radiation, and vibrations. This makes it perfect for ISRO’s satellites and rockets, which previously relied on imported chips for crucial missions. Introducing Vikram marks a historic milestone, signaling India’s shift toward greater technological independence and reliability in space—part of the broader “Make in India” and Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) campaign.
Unlike regular commercial chips, Vikram boasts a custom design that processes 32 bits of data at a time, supports advanced floating-point calculations, and allows for programming in high-level languages like Ada (used widely in aerospace). Even the tools needed to turn code into working chip instructions, compilers, assemblers, and simulators—were made in-house by ISRO. Work is also underway to support popular programming languages such as C in future versions, widening its applications beyond space technology.
The chip’s development and packaging took place entirely in India, using SCL’s semiconductor facility in Punjab. Alongside Vikram, ISRO is also working on more advanced chips, like the Kalpana-3201, to grow the ecosystem for various high-reliability uses such as defense, energy, and automotive electronics. This achievement is seen as a sign of India’s growing potential in the global semiconductor scene and brings pride to Indian industry and government leaders alike.