Indian Fabless Semiconductor Startup Aheesa Unveils Broadband Chip, Targets Early 2027 Commercial Launch

Fabless semiconductor startup Aheesa Digital Innovations unveiled VIHAAN-I, an indigenously designed broadband networking chip, at Semicon India 2026 in New Delhi.

Aheesa is targeting early 2027 for commercialisation and has signed partnerships covering packaging, product development and distribution.

Designed for broadband and fibre networks, the company positions VIHAAN-I as an Indian-designed alternative to imported silicon used across much of the country’s telecom and broadband equipment ecosystem.

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“We had the opportunity to showcase VIHAAN-I to Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, along with Shri Amitesh Kumar Sinha, Joint Secretary-Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India, and CEO, India Semiconductor Mission,” Saket Singh, Aheesa Digital Innovations Director and Chief Growth Officer, said.

The chip was taped out on January 26, 2026, and achieved first-pass silicon success on August 15, according to the startup. The company said the result validates the design and allows it to shift its focus towards productisation and deployment.

Vihaan-I is built on the open-standard RISC-V architecture and uses the indigenous VEGA processor developed by C-DAC. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme supported its development.

"VIHAAN-I’s silicon is now validated. Our focus is on the next chapter: working with India’s broadband and telecom equipment makers and demonstrating that Indian-designed chips can compete on performance, capability and merit," Singh added.

To support commercialisation, Aheesa has signed a packaging MoU with Optilink Networks covering product development from prototyping through packaging, along with joint development of broadband customer equipment based on VIHAAN-I.

The company has also entered a distribution partnership with The Zigma Technologies India as it prepares to take the chip to market.

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