India is building its own microprocessors from the ground up. The DIR-V Programme, run by C-DAC, has already produced three real chips. The latest, DHRUV64, is India’s first homegrown 1.0 GHz, 64-bit, dual-core microprocessor.
mcqquestion.com
DIR-V’s Three Chips
India’s homegrown RISC-V processors, in order
1
THEJAS32
32-bit, single-core. Fabricated at SilTerra, Malaysia.
2
THEJAS64
64-bit, single-core. Fabricated domestically at SCL Mohali.
3
DHRUV64 (Dec 2025)
1.0 GHz, 64-bit, dual-core. India’s first of its kind. VEGA AS2161 core, 28nm.
Two tracks, one goal: DIR-V’s VEGA chips (built by C-DAC) and IIT Madras’s Shakti processors are separate RISC-V lineages, both working toward the same indigenous-chip mission.
⬇ Download as image
Timeline
- December 2021: India launches the India Semiconductor Mission, the umbrella programme that funds fabs and chip-related manufacturing.
- April 2022: MeitY launches the DIR-V (Digital India RISC-V) Programme, to build an indigenous microprocessor design ecosystem.
- THEJAS32: the first DIR-V chip, a 32-bit single-core processor, fabricated at SilTerra in Malaysia.
- THEJAS64: the second DIR-V chip, a 64-bit single-core processor, fabricated domestically at SCL (Semiconductor Laboratory), Mohali.
- 16-17 December 2025: DHRUV64, the third DIR-V chip, launches. It is India’s first indigenous 1.0 GHz, 64-bit, dual-core microprocessor.
- 28 February 2026: Micron’s ATMP (assembly-test-packaging) plant at Sanand, Gujarat, is inaugurated, India’s first operational facility from this semiconductor mission cycle.
🏛️ Must Know
Three Real Chips, One Programme
- DIR-V stands for DIR-V stands for Digital India RISC-V. It is run by C-DAC, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, under its own Microprocessor Development Programme.
- DIR-V has produced DIR-V has produced three chips so far, in order: THEJAS32, THEJAS64, and DHRUV64.
- DHRUV64 is the DHRUV64 is the third chip in this sequence, and India’s first homegrown 1.0 GHz, 64-bit, dual-core microprocessor.
- DHRUV64 uses the DHRUV64 uses the VEGA AS2161 core, built on a 28nm process node, and it can boot and run Linux.
- All three chips All three chips use the open RISC-V instruction set architecture, which lets India design processors without paying licence fees to a foreign chip-design company.
🏘️ Good to Know
DIR-V vs Shakti
- Shakti is a Shakti is a separate, related Indian processor effort, developed by the RISE group at IIT Madras.
- Shakti also uses Shakti also uses the open RISC-V architecture, but it follows a different institutional lineage from the C-DAC-built VEGA chips.
- Shakti has its Shakti has its own real-world win: it was used in an aerospace-grade chip jointly developed with ISRO in 2025.
- Both Shakti and Both Shakti and the VEGA/DIR-V chips fall under India’s broader RISC-V push, but they come from different labs and follow separate development tracks.
- 1-2 Aug 2026 The DIR-V Symposium 2026, held on 1-2 August 2026, brought together C-DAC, IIT Madras, IIT Bombay, and industry players like Incore Semiconductors, to review progress across the VEGA, SHAKTI, and AJIT processor families.
Test Yourself
⚡ Great to Know
The Bigger Semiconductor Push
- DIR-V handles chip DIR-V handles chip design. A separate, larger scheme, the India Semiconductor Mission, launched in December 2021, funds the fabrication plants and packaging facilities that turn designs into physical chips.
- The Tata Electronics-PSMC The Tata Electronics-PSMC fab at Dholera, Gujarat, is set to handle chips from 28nm to 110nm nodes, targeting first silicon by December 2026.
- Micron’s assembly-test-packagi Micron’s assembly-test-packaging plant at Sanand, Gujarat, was inaugurated on 28 February 2026, becoming the mission’s first operational facility.
- CG Power’s OSAT CG Power’s OSAT (outsourced assembly and test) plant, also at Sanand, reached commercial production just 27 months after its groundbreaking.
- Design programmes like Design programmes like DIR-V and fabrication investments like Dholera and Sanand work together, aiming to build a complete, homegrown chip supply chain in India.
Leave a Reply