NIT Meghalaya achieves breakthrough with two indigenous chip fabrications under semiconductor mission

In a remarkable advancement for India’s semiconductor mission and a proud moment for the Northeast, the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Meghalaya has achieved two successful indigenous chip fabrications under the Government of India’s Chips to Startup (C2S) / SMDP programmes.

These milestones place the institute among the leading academic contributors to India’s growing semiconductor ecosystem. Earlier this year, NIT Meghalaya designed and fabricated the state’s first-ever indigenous digital integrated circuit, marking a historic step for semiconductor research in the region. This achievement reached national attention when the fabricated chip was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the SEMICON India 2025 Summit. The moment highlighted the crucial role of academic R&D in advancing India’s ambition for self-reliance and technological leadership in semiconductor design and manufacturing.


The chip received extensive media coverage for being the first indigenous IC designed in Meghalaya, establishing NIT Meghalaya’s capabilities in advanced digital logic and VLSI design. Building on its earlier success, NIT Meghalaya has now received its second fabricated chip, a mixed-signal IC that integrates both digital and analog circuit blocks.


The design features include a Finite State Machine (FSM) implemented in the digital domain that classifies soil moisture levels into well-defined states. An 8-bit Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) that converts these states into corresponding analog output signals for practical agricultural and environmental monitoring applications. This mixed-signal chip was fabricated at the Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL), Mohali under the SMDP C2S programme, demonstrating the institute’s growing expertise in complex IC design that bridges digital and analog domains.

The innovation was spearheaded by a dedicated team of faculty members—Dr. Prabir Saha, Dr. Shubhankar Majumdar, and Dr. Pradeep Kumar Rathore—along with PhD scholars Geetima Kachari, Parishmita Goswami, and Deibaphira Suchiang. Their combined efforts reflect NIT Meghalaya’s growing research strength and commitment to contributing meaningfully to India’s semiconductor ecosystem. With two successful chip tape outs in quick succession, NIT Meghalaya continues to emerge as a significant academic force in the nation’s pursuit of semiconductor excellence.