A task force was setup to study important chipset used in telecom equipment, Study present ecosystem for these Chipsets, Mapping current & future requirements, Recommend 5-6 chipsets for development under Chipset Mission. The overall objective of task force was to Increase domestic value addition, Become Truly Atmanirbhar (Chips to Systems), Enhance Security & Supply chain resilience and Kick-start semiconductor ecosystem in India, using telecom sector as an anchor.

The task force has identified many challenges being faced in achieving the objective of becoming self-reliant in chip design, manufacturing, and ownership Investment that is too large to be done by entrepreneurs on their own, especially if there is no sales/business commitment, at least for initial procurement. Government policies do not provide optimal funding. The viability funding gap is too much to bridge for a startup. VCs are unwilling to fund chip startups in India because of long gestation cycles, Lack of deep tech expertise in the VC industry, lack of local OEMs in India, who would help define the specs and can be anchor customers. Did not have enough “India-specific” problems to solve. This is though changing now (e.g., NAVIC, Broadcast as a service, D2M) but significant support needed for kick off.

The funding through TTDF intent to support India's pursuit of self-reliance and tech autonomy through Atma-Nirbharta and Make in India for the Telecom Chipset Mission in reshaping the nation into a global semiconductor innovator. The funding aims to establish India as a hub for chip design, manufacturing and ownership considering security and geo-political shifts.

With 1.25 lakh skilled chip engineers and a vibrant start-up ecosystem, India's strengths are exemplified by 3000+ advanced chip designs, attracting major multinationals with local R&D centres. The funding intent to promote "India telecom stack," advancing devices, chipsets, and architectures. It also intent to meet rising chip demand, particularly in communication, comprising 30% of the global market. Aiming to reduce the annual $4 billion imported chip reliance, it fosters a thriving ecosystem of design, manufacturing, and solidifying India's global role in semiconductor innovation.

It is proposed that initially the proposals will be invited for development of following chipset types:

1. Next-generation Broadband CPE chipset
   1. Key IPs: xPON-ONT & WiFi 6/6E/7
   2. Products: Home gateway for FTTH (Fiber to the home)
2. 5G Modem + Radio chip for Dongles/IoTs/Mobile Edge/Satcom
   1. Key IPs: 5G Modem Baseband + RF, Processor
   2. Products: Dongles / Edge devices /Satcom IOT
3. Multi-radio chip Micro-controller for Gateways
   1. Key IPs: Microcontroller, Multi-Radio Baseband + RF, Analog
   2. Key Radio IPs: NB-IoT/ZigBee/LoRa/Wi-Fy (BaseBand & RF)
   3. Products: IoT, Industry 4.0 and Edge Gateway
4. xPON OLT chips for fiber broadband infra equipment
   1. Key IPs: Serdes, xPON MAC, Switch Fabric
   2. Products: Broadband Head-end Units
5. Digital Signal Processor for Radio and Baseband Processing
   1. Key IPs: Architecture, Vector ALU/FPU, FFT, LDPC cores
   2. Products: Wireless infra 5G/6G RRH/BBU, RU/DU
6. L2/L3 Packet Switch chipsets with Embedded Processor
   1. Key IPs: Serdes/MACs, DPI engine, Lookup engine, Schedulers
   2. Products: Campus and Enterprise/DataCenter Networks