Purdue University is set to offer semiconductor programmes for Indian students and professionals from next year. An upskilling and training programme, the duration of which will be between 6 and 12 months, will be rolled out in partnership with the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM).
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) regarding this was signed ahead of the recently held Semicon India conference in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The programme is especially aimed at students from tier two and tier three Indian colleges and professionals in the semiconductor industry who wish to upskill themselves, said Vijay Raghunathan, director of semiconductor education at Purdue University.
“Purdue has put together six months to one year training programme that we will be opening to ISM, and through ISM to pretty much any of the educational institutions in India. So, it will be Purdue certified programmes in circuit design, system design, advanced packaging, manufacturing, and EDA that we will be rolling out very shortly,” Raghunathan told Outlook Business.
In November 2022, Purdue University had announced a dual-degree master’s programme in semiconductors in collaboration with IIT Madras. The new skilling programme, formulated as per recommendations given by ISM’s talent committee, is a continuation of Purdue's commitment to improving semiconductor education in India.
Since the skilling programme will be offered virtually, it is believed that a large number of students from Indian institutes can join the course in the coming year. “So, this is this is a challenge that I would put to ISM. If they give us 20,000 students a year, it’s our challenge that we will meet that demand. Fundamentally, I don't think there should be a bottleneck to a programme which is largely virtual,” Raghunathan added.
The Purdue University professor was in India to attend the three-day Semicon India conference organised by the ISM from 28 to 30 July in Gandhinagar. India Semiconductor Mission is a nodal agency under the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) that looks after India’s goals in the global chip ecosystem.
At the recently concluded conference, US chip major AMD announced investments worth $400 million to set up an R&D facility in Bengaluru. This was the fourth major investment in India’s nascent chip ecosystem this year, following those made during Prime Minister Modi’s US visit.
In June 2023, during the PM’s state visit, Micron Technology had announced that it is setting up a $2.75 billion chip assembly unit in Gujarat. Raghunathan noted that between the first Semicon conference that took place in Bengaluru last year and the one in Gandhinagar this year, India made a lot of progress in its semiconductor journey.
The professor is optimistic about more advancements in the coming months. "From the first [Semicon] to the second, we made this transition from policies to proposals being accepted. For me, the time from now to the next Semicon will be all about execution. I will be interested in coming back next year to see how well and how much has been executed,” Raghunathan added.
