There is an urgent requirement of indigenously made microchips by the Indian Armed Forces for various military applications.
In fact, last year the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) had issued a Request for Proposal(RFP) for 5 lakh semiconductor chips divided across two designs, provided they are based on an indigenous design and Indian Intellectual Property (IP).
Additionally, with the critical military network based on IoT and 5G/6G technology in India, the demand for semiconductor chips will increase exponentially.
Notably, microchips as semiconductors are now part of the widest range of military platforms or systems such as combat jets, unmanned systems (drones), helicopters, warships, submarines, missiles, and communication networks.
Currently, only the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) develops semiconductors for military systems.
For rest of the requirements, the Indian Armed Forces are dependent on foreign manufacturers for its requirements, which in turn proves to be a hurdle in present and future upgrades.
