India’s efforts to build out a domestic manufacturing market received a boost this week after a government-backed fabless firm designing chips for broadband and networking applications hit a major milestone.

Chennai-based Aheesa Digital Innovations achieved first-pass silicon for its Vihaan line, confirming performance metrics during initial hardware validation. A 64-bit RISC-V processor powers Aheesa's networking system-on-chip (SoC), which is specifically designed for broadband applications including high-performance routers, managed switches, and unified threat management appliances. An edge-focused version targets uses like IoT gateways and industrial automation to process data locally with minimal latency.

Initial tape-out occurred back in January, with production tape-out targeted for sometime in 2027.

Aheesa was founded in 2021 and counts alums from Wipro, Microchip Technology, and AMI among its C-suite. CEO Sridharan Mani was formerly a senior software development manager at Amazon and now leads a startup creating chips to power multigigabit processing for enterprise connectivity.

The startup received backing from the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, an Indian government initiative led by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to support domestic semiconductor firms with the view to reducing reliance on hardware imports. Aheesa raised some $4.19 million from investors including Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Fund Management Company (TNIFMC) to boost its efforts.

Aheesa’s efforts developing broadband and connectivity-centric hardware come as India rapidly looks to build out its digital infrastructure. Vendors including Nokia, Arrcus, and CrowdStrike are among those pushing to support connectivity expansions in the country amid a burgeoning data center market that includes a potential for an Indian leg of OpenAI's Stargate project in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

A statement published by MeitY states that the progress of companies such as Aheesa “demonstrates that Indian semiconductor designs are increasingly moving beyond the laboratory.”

“Chips designed in India are now being fabricated, tested, validated, and prepared for customer trials,” the ministry’s statement reads. “As the ecosystem matures, silicon-validated designs will move towards volume manufacturing, positioning Indian companies as credible global suppliers while strengthening domestic supply chains and self-reliance”

India joins a growing cohort of countries and regions looking to bolster their own domestic manufacturing markets for chips. China, for example, is working toward 80% semiconductor self-sufficiency by the start of the next decade, while the EU vies to capture production but routinely flip-flops as to what it views as "strategic" technologies.

The U.S. is also making sizable efforts to reduce reliance on Southeast Asia, though through more aggressive means including threats of tariffs, import restrictions, and investments in fledgling giants like Intel.