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ARM just opened a new Bengaluru unit that will design 2nm chips, making it only the second player in India after Renesas to hit this milestone.
ARM is a UK-based tech company that designs the blueprint for most of the world’s smartphone and gadget chips.
A 2nm chip is an ultra-tiny, super-efficient processor that packs more power into devices while using less energy.
The deets: ARM Embedded Technologies, the Indian arm of UK-based ARM Holdings, just opened a design hub in Bengaluru. From here, engineers will work on cutting-edge processors, including 2nm chip designs, the kind that make smartphones faster, AI smarter, and data centres more energy efficient.
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who inaugurated the unit, said ARM is now the second company in India after Renesas to hit the 2nm milestone.
Why it matters: 2nm is bleeding-edge tech. Smaller nodes mean faster, more efficient chips, vital for everything from AI to smartphones. Having this capability in India is a big signal that the country is moving up the semiconductor value chain.
Zoom out: India’s chip ecosystem is buzzing. Ten semiconductor units are under development. Companies like CG Semi have started pilot production, and supply chains for 500+ specialty chemicals and 50 gases needed in fabs are now being sourced domestically.
Add in the government’s new $1B India Deep Tech Fund, and the mission is clear which is to not just chip design but a full-stack ecosystem.
The takeaway: from once missing out on Intel and Fairchild, India is now playing host to ARM’s most advanced designs. With ASML, IMEC, and IBM also circling, the Bengaluru 2nm move could be India’s ticket to join the semiconductor big leagues.
