Kerala semicon firm plans advanced edge-AI SoC, market expansion

Kerala-based Semiconductor firm Netrasemi on Thursday said it is planning to build four system-on-chip (SOC) variants with advanced AI and video analytics features into production. 

In a bid to expand its capabilities, the startup has raised Rs 107 crore in a Series ‘A’ round from Zoho Corporations and Unicorn India Ventures. Funds to further bolster its research and development (R&D) initiatives, expand manufacturing capabilities, and enhance marketing efforts to capture larger domestic and global market share.

The company said that the funds will also help them address compute platform requirements of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for surveillance, industrial robotics, and smart infrastructure products. It has recently completed the development of two SoC products currently in the tapeout stage, targeting TSMC’s 12 nm technology node.

Founded in 2020 by Jyothis Indirabhai, Sreejith Varma and Deepa Geetha, Netrasemi is focused on developing system-on-chip (SoCs) that enable optimal computing for smart IoT products, particularly for addressing complex workloads like video processing. The chips are designed to perform advanced AI-based analytics directly on devices, eliminating the need to send data to servers or the cloud. This capability is powered by Netrasemi’s energy-efficient deep-neural AI acceleration core (NPU) and comprehensive portfolio of in-house silicon intellectual properties.

In the last 12 months, the company has completed development of two Edge-AI chips with advanced video capabilities, initiated development of CCTV AI camera chip for Indian market, established partner agreements for evaluation boards and platform development, signed multiple MOUs with global partners for sample release and product R&D and secured interest and requirements from multiple OEMs for platform development using Netrasemi SoCs.

“Through this investment, we are supporting the development of indigenous IP and innovation, paving the way for globally competitive products to be built in India,” says Shailesh Davey, Co-founder and CEO, Zoho Corporation, which has been promoting rural development with R&D, and creating more jobs in the technology sector in Tier 2 and 3 towns. As part of that effort, it recently opened an R&D centre in Kottarakara, Kerala. The company will be collaborating on R&D projects with Netrasemi at this campus.

Netrasemi plans to double the current workforce from 83 to 166 chip engineering professionals, target diverse applications across surveillance, industrial robotics, smart home devices, and smart city infrastructure and retail sectors. Additionally, the company also plans to increase customer and partner engagement activities along with a focus on next-generation chips with superior performance and features. Netrasemi is currently in the R&D and prototyping stage of their upcoming launches, which is expected in early 2026.

Jyothis Indirabhai, Co-founder & CEO, Netrasemi, said that the company’s Domain Specific Architecture (DSA) and optimal intellectual property silicon cores enable both performance and energy efficiency needed for real-time on-device, on-premise computing at the edge.

“Our chips are designed based on various end-customer application requirements and are both power-efficient and cost-effective. Netrasemi chips enable solution players to develop advanced ML and vision application use cases faster and with ease. We not only make advanced System-on-Chips, but own the IP cores that go inside to make them achieve edge-efficient computing,” said Indirabhai.

In the next 12-18 months, Netrasemi aims to complete full mask production of all three SoC families and initiate R&D for next-generation ultra-high performance SoC potentially addressing edge-servers and smart NVR compute requirements.

India’s semiconductor sector is on a positive trajectory, with its end-use market projected to double from $54 billion in 2025 to US$108 billion by 2030. A key component of this growth is expected to come from domestic localisation initiatives.

India currently imports over 90% of its semiconductors. This heavy dependence on imports creates several risks.    

 To address this, the Indian government has launched the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), a $10 billion initiative to foster domestic chip manufacturing and design. This mission is bolstered by programs like the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) and Design Linked Incentive (DLI) schemes, incentivising investment in India.