Netrasemi eyes commercial production of its AI chips by 2027

Chennai: Zoho-backed fabless semiconductor startup Netrasemi has initiated talks with CCTV camera manufacturers and other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) ahead of the commercial rollout of its system-on-chip (SoC) next year. The company is currently collaborating with multiple OEMs on qualification processes, early-stage sample testing and co-development initiatives.

The startup, which is among the first four companies selected under the Design-Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme, has developed a chip with on-device AI capabilities for applications ranging from smart cameras and industrial automation to robotics and edge AI platforms. Compliance requirements under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) norms are also driving momentum for the startup, as the rules restrict the use of Chinese-made internet-connected CCTV cameras.

Jyothis Indirabhai, co-founder and chief executive of Netrasemi, said companies are expected to ramp up socket replacements once its chips enter commercial production. “The chips are expected to enter pre-production by the end of 2026, and volume samples will be supplied to product manufacturers for research and development. We are targeting mass production of two variants by the end of 2027,” he said.

The company is also in talks with OEMs outside India for applications leveraging its AI capabilities and neural processing units (NPUs). “The chip design will be shared with select OEMs for joint R&D to develop further commercial use cases. Commercial production of the chips is likely to begin next year in Taiwan,” he added.

Netrasemi combines proprietary hardware acceleration IPs with real-time AI processing at edge devices and has raised a total of Rs 125 crore in funding from Zoho, Unicorn India Ventures and others.