India must manufacture chips for data security: Telecom Secretary

Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan on Wednesday said that India cannot remain secure in terms of data and save the excess outgo in royalty payments unless it manufactures its own chips and takes a lead in the core Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

She was speaking after the unveiling of India’s first indigenous semiconductor chips by a Bengaluru based company, Signalchip, for 4G/LTE and 5G NR modems for telecom base stations.

These chips put India into the elite group of countries which own this widely used fundamental technology. Signalchip’s semiconductor chips are for use in base stations and the customers of such chips are telecom equipment manufacturers.