Mindgrove Technologies, a chip design startup incubated at IIT Madras, is poised to introduce its system-on-chips (SoCs) tailored for diverse applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) realm. These SoCs, characterized by high performance and low energy consumption, have successfully completed their prototype fabrication. The startup is now gearing up for large-scale commercial production and is engaged in discussions with various equipment manufacturers.
Operating on a 28nm node, the reference boards for these SoCs will soon be made available for manufacturers to evaluate. SoCs, integrated circuits that encapsulate all system components into a single silicon piece, find applications across various domains. Mindgrove’s chips are primarily aimed at Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) firms involved in IoT applications. These applications span across smart wearables like watches, smart home devices such as lights, consumer electronics like air conditioners and washing machines, and access control systems like fingerprint scanners.
Shashwath TR, CEO and co-founder of Mindgrove, highlighted that the microcontroller was developed in just eight months, a notably short timeframe in the industry. With a clock speed of 700 MHz, it stands as one of the fastest in its class, comparable to global counterparts. He also noted a reduction in the challenges associated with the acceptance of Indian-designed chips over the past two years.
Co-founder Sharan Jagathrakshakan emphasized the startup’s ability to standardize chips for a wide array of applications while offering customization at the software and system levels for specific use cases, thereby ensuring cost efficiency. Mindgrove envisions a volume of 500 million chips for IoT applications in the Indian market segment it caters to.
Incubated by IIT-M Pravartak Technologies Foundation and IIT Madras Incubation Cell, this Chennai-based startup is witnessing significant demand for IoT chips in the Indian market. Additionally, it is actively developing another quad-core based chip to further address market needs.
