The Indian institute
of Technology (IIT) Madras made a hallmark breakthrough for Indian computing.
A group of
Engineers from has managed to build and boot up the first indigenously build microprocessor,
for use in mobile computing and wireless devices.
According to
the statement from the university, the new Shakti processor can be used in
place of imported processor as they are up to international standards.
This processor
is fabricated in Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) semiconductor
Laboratory in Chandigarh, Making it the first RISC-V processor completely
designed and made in India.
Another
important part of the Shakti is that it’s less vulnerable to system infected
with backdoors and Hardware Trojans. Because of that, IIT madras says it’s safe
to be adopted by government agencies, Nuclear power plants and even defence
groups.
“With the
advent of Digital India, there are several applications that require
customisable processor cores”. Lead researcher Prof Kamakoti Veezhinathan said
at the announcement. “The 180nm fabrication facility at SCL Chandigarh is
crucial in getting these cores manufactured within our country”.
