Allocation under the new $1 billion India Deep Tech Investment Alliance (IDTA) is not preset, but semiconductors and AI infrastructure are expected to command a large share of the investment, said Sriram Viswanathan, founding managing partner at Celesta Capital, which along with its peers. is leading the IDTA.
“One could expect semiconductors and AI infrastructure to command a large share of investment in line with general market trends,” he told ET.
The IDTA was launched on September 2, at Semicon India 2025, to mobilise private capital and expertise for deep tech companies in India and foster US-India collaboration in sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and space. Founded by venture capital and private equity firms from both countries, it aims to spur investment with an initial capital commitment of $1 billion.
The alliance will also focus on quantum, robotics, biotech, medtech, energy and the digital economy.
Viswanathan clarified that “we have not announced any investments under IDTA” yet. The path ahead includes “big gaps in access to customers, advanced manufacturing capabilities and some specialised talent,” he said.
Discovering and mentoring more fabless semiconductor companies remains a significant opportunity, according to Viswanathan. “Specialised deep tech VCs who understand this space can help with de-risking and commercialisation by offering patient capital, global customer introduction, and cross-border supply-chain partnerships,” he said.
However, India’s greatest immediate advantage in the global semiconductor race lies on the design side, with “a very large, experienced pool of chip architects and engineers built over two decades of global design centres”, he added.
As domestic demand for electronics, automotive and AI data centres surges—and with a rapidly maturing supplier base in outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) and assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP), and specialty materials—India is poised to capitalise on strong policy tailwinds from programmes such as the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and production-linked and design-linked incentives, Viswanathan said.
“Together, these create the right conditions for fabless and system companies to scale, and for advanced packaging and compound-semiconductor manufacturing to take root,” he said.
In the India-US tech corridor, Celesta Capital has backed firms like Aurasemi, as well as listed hardware companies such as ideaForge, space tech company Agnikul, and Tonbo Imaging.
Global firms include Credo (connectivity), Eliyan (chiplet interconnect), DustPhotonics (silicon photonics), Alif Semiconductor (secure, low-power microcontrollers), Movandi (radio frequency), Stathera (micro-electromechanical systems timing) and TagoreTech (Gallium Nitride power), and prior exits such as Habana Labs (AI accelerators) and Innovium (data centre switching).
“India can and should be a leading global deep tech economy. But… it will need to accelerate entrepreneurship and development of a cooperative ecosystem in order to get there,” Viswanathan said.
He further said that there is a need for greater clarity on cross-border operations, talent incentives, IP protection and public procurement.
Viswanathan also said that India’s future in semiconductors depends on “scaling applied MTech/MS programmes in analogue/RF, reliability, packaging and process control with industry-co-taught curricula".
Funding test labs that founders can rent by the hour, and expanding electronic design automation (EDA) access and compute credits for startups is also important, according to Viswanathan. The ISM’s nationwide EDA training—60,000 students across 280 institutions, targeting 85,000—“is the right direction”, but needs to be supported with practical, hands-on tape-out experience, he said.
Operating in the US-India corridor brings “ready access to US customers and partners, deeper capital pools and mature supply chains”, plus efficient cost structures for sustained research and development, he said.
Meanwhile, decades-old relationships with the US “translate into faster technical validation, earlier customer pull, and strategic investment” for Indian startups, Viswanathan said.
India’s ambition to move from chip design powerhouse to a full-stack semiconductor player is plausible if the country can bridge its remaining gaps and double down on talent, partnership and policy clarity, he said.
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“One could expect semiconductors and AI infrastructure to command a large share of investment in line with general market trends,” he told ET.
The IDTA was launched on September 2, at Semicon India 2025, to mobilise private capital and expertise for deep tech companies in India and foster US-India collaboration in sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and space. Founded by venture capital and private equity firms from both countries, it aims to spur investment with an initial capital commitment of $1 billion.
The alliance will also focus on quantum, robotics, biotech, medtech, energy and the digital economy.
Viswanathan clarified that “we have not announced any investments under IDTA” yet. The path ahead includes “big gaps in access to customers, advanced manufacturing capabilities and some specialised talent,” he said.
Discovering and mentoring more fabless semiconductor companies remains a significant opportunity, according to Viswanathan. “Specialised deep tech VCs who understand this space can help with de-risking and commercialisation by offering patient capital, global customer introduction, and cross-border supply-chain partnerships,” he said.
However, India’s greatest immediate advantage in the global semiconductor race lies on the design side, with “a very large, experienced pool of chip architects and engineers built over two decades of global design centres”, he added.
As domestic demand for electronics, automotive and AI data centres surges—and with a rapidly maturing supplier base in outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) and assembly, testing, marking and packaging (ATMP), and specialty materials—India is poised to capitalise on strong policy tailwinds from programmes such as the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) and production-linked and design-linked incentives, Viswanathan said.
“Together, these create the right conditions for fabless and system companies to scale, and for advanced packaging and compound-semiconductor manufacturing to take root,” he said.
In the India-US tech corridor, Celesta Capital has backed firms like Aurasemi, as well as listed hardware companies such as ideaForge, space tech company Agnikul, and Tonbo Imaging.
Global firms include Credo (connectivity), Eliyan (chiplet interconnect), DustPhotonics (silicon photonics), Alif Semiconductor (secure, low-power microcontrollers), Movandi (radio frequency), Stathera (micro-electromechanical systems timing) and TagoreTech (Gallium Nitride power), and prior exits such as Habana Labs (AI accelerators) and Innovium (data centre switching).
“India can and should be a leading global deep tech economy. But… it will need to accelerate entrepreneurship and development of a cooperative ecosystem in order to get there,” Viswanathan said.
He further said that there is a need for greater clarity on cross-border operations, talent incentives, IP protection and public procurement.
Viswanathan also said that India’s future in semiconductors depends on “scaling applied MTech/MS programmes in analogue/RF, reliability, packaging and process control with industry-co-taught curricula".
Funding test labs that founders can rent by the hour, and expanding electronic design automation (EDA) access and compute credits for startups is also important, according to Viswanathan. The ISM’s nationwide EDA training—60,000 students across 280 institutions, targeting 85,000—“is the right direction”, but needs to be supported with practical, hands-on tape-out experience, he said.
Operating in the US-India corridor brings “ready access to US customers and partners, deeper capital pools and mature supply chains”, plus efficient cost structures for sustained research and development, he said.
Meanwhile, decades-old relationships with the US “translate into faster technical validation, earlier customer pull, and strategic investment” for Indian startups, Viswanathan said.
India’s ambition to move from chip design powerhouse to a full-stack semiconductor player is plausible if the country can bridge its remaining gaps and double down on talent, partnership and policy clarity, he said.
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