New Delhi: The Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has signed an agreement with BigEndian Semiconductors in Bengaluru for financial assistance worth ₹130 crores from Research Development and Innovation (RDI) Fund.
The funding will be used for “Project VeerAI”, a project worth Rs 260 crore aimed at developing an indigenous Artificial Intelligence Vision SoC platform.
The project aims to move the technology from Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-5 to TRL-9, with support provided through Optional Convertible Debt (OCD).
Project VeerAI is designed to create a camera-focused AI chip for secure, intelligent and application-specific semiconductor solutions. It is initially targeted at CCTV and surveillance systems in India and the Global South, with a roadmap to expand into defence, automotive, industrial and medical domains.
The objective is to integrate AI processing with security, privacy, and connectivity capabilities in order to reduce dependency on semiconductors and technology supply chains developed by external sources. The project attempts to achieve its objectives by designing application specific SoCs rather than general-purpose processors.
The project also seeks to leverage India’s growing VLSI design and semiconductor talent, translating domestic design capabilities into a scalable product platform.
TDB Secretary Rajesh Kumar Pathak said semiconductors are foundational to emerging technologies and that building indigenous capabilities in application-specific AI chips is key to strengthening India’s technology ecosystem. He said the RDI Fund enables sustained support for technologies that need significant investment to move from advanced development to commercial deployment.
Promoters of BigEndian Semiconductors said the RDI support will help accelerate development and validation of Project VeerAI, taking the AI Vision SoC towards commercial readiness and contributing to a stronger domestic semiconductor ecosystem.