IIT-M ties up with US varsity to develop dual degree course on semiconductors

With semiconductors emerging as the sunrise sector in India, the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has joined hands with US’ Purdue University to jointly develop a dual-degree program in semiconductors and taking up research in the areas of chip making and microelectronics.

The move by the IIT-M comes amid a massive push by India to woo semiconductor manufacturers and make them set their shops in the country. The Union Government has rolled out a Rs 76,000 crore production linked incentive (PLI) for the emerging sector.

While Vedanta-Foxconn has chosen Gujarat for their plant, Singapore-based IGSS Ventures has signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu government to develop a semiconductor park near Chennai at an investment of Rs 25,600 crore. Home-grown Tata Electronics, Samsung, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) are some of the companies that are likely to invest in the sector in the coming months and years.

Professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT-M, and Professor Mung Chiang, President-Elect and Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Purdue University,

Signed the Letter of Intent towards this collaboration on November 3 in the presence of professors from both institutes.

Kamakoti said India’s semiconductor mission looks at the large-scale development and deployment of microelectronics products and that the joint initiative with Purdue will certainly augment the quality human resource development efforts in semiconductor electronics.

“We recently launched the first comprehensive Semiconductor Degrees Program (SDP) with the goal of becoming the top source of skilled semiconductor talent for the US. We are thrilled to be partnering with IIT Madras on these dual-degree programs to rapidly contribute to the workforce needs of the large semiconductor industry in both the US and India,” Mung Chiang said.

The proposed dual-degree program in semiconductors would focus on an innovative, cooperatively-developed curriculum that will meet the growing needs of the industry, the institute said, adding that a key outcome envisaged from this unique partnership includes a workforce prepared to tackle global challenges arising from increased needs for microelectronics and shifting manufacturing trends.

IIT-M already has an interdisciplinary programme which trains students in sunrise sectors and has a digital skills academy which specializes in reskilling courses. “We are targeting virtual prototype labs where I can go, and train people. We can also put the virtual fab on the cloud. These are complex things but once we do it, that is the way to train people in these sectors,” Kamakoti had told DH in July.

The partnership would also entail research collaboration in areas such as semiconductor supply-chain management, chip design, packaging, system architecture, and advanced manufacturing methods.

IIT Madras has world-class faculty in the area of semiconductors, from electronic devices to circuits and systems. This new dual-degree program in semiconductors will give students a solid foundation in these areas, while also giving them the freedom and flexibility to specialize in their chosen area of interest, said Prof Nagendra Krishnapura of the institute.