IIT-Madras Startup Mindgrove Launches Commercial Manufacturing of India's Indigenous Secure IoT Semiconductor, Eyes Biometric and Industrial Applications
Summary
Mindgrove Technologies, a startup incubated at IIT-Madras, is commencing commercial production of India's first indigenously designed Secure IoT chip, a RISC-V based microcontroller SoC that can reduce device costs by approximately 30% compared to imported chips. The chip, manufactured at the 28nm node and operating at 700 MHz, integrates advanced cryptographic security features including AES-256, RSA-2048, SHA-256, and a true random number generator, making it highly suitable for secure biometric authentication, access-control systems, and industrial IoT applications. Mindgrove has established a two-year commercial partnership with Pune-based Pinetics to integrate its chips into biometric access-control systems, smart locks, and camera applications, strengthening India's domestic semiconductor value chain. The company's initial demand is expected from secure biometric systems used in telecom onboarding and government-mandated identity authentication infrastructure, with broader applications spanning smart meters, wearables, and EV battery management systems. Additionally, Mindgrove is developing a Vision SoC under the government's Design Linked Incentive scheme targeting edge computing and surveillance applications such as CCTV systems and dashcams.
Key Takeaways
- 1. **Strategic Semiconductor Sovereignty:** India's first indigenous commercial-grade RISC-V microcontroller reduces dependence on foreign chip imports, directly strengthening national technological self-reliance in critical security infrastructure
- 2. **Defence and Security Applications:** The chip's hardware-level cryptographic capabilities make it highly relevant for military-grade access control, secure communications, and identity authentication systems used in sensitive installations
- 3. **Surveillance and Intelligence Infrastructure:** The upcoming Vision SoC targeting CCTV and edge vision systems could support India's defence and homeland security surveillance networks with domestically secured hardware
- 4. **Reduced Supply Chain Vulnerability:** Indigenous chip production mitigates risks of foreign supply chain disruptions or potential hardware backdoors in security-critical biometric and IoT devices used across government and defence sectors
- 5. **Government Policy Alignment:** Support through the Design Linked Incentive scheme signals strong governmental commitment to building a robust domestic semiconductor ecosystem essential for long-term defence modernisation and digital security independence