KOCHI: A young tech startup from Kochi has achieved a significant milestone for India’s electronics industry. Silizium Circuits, based at Maker Village and Rajagiri Incubation Centre, has developed a 5G chip that is completely designed and built end-to-end in India, a rare feat in the country’s growing semiconductor sector.

The startup, supported by IIT Hyderabad’s FabCI and the Kerala Startup Mission, focuses on creating chips for wireless communication. Its latest innovation — a 5G Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) chip — helps strengthen weak mobile signals, resulting in clearer calls and faster internet speeds, particularly in areas with poor network coverage.

What makes this achievement stand out is that it is the first 5G chip in India to be funded by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under its Digital Communication Innovation Scheme.

“It took us time and effort, but it’s a proud moment for all of us,” said Rijin John, co-founder and CEO of Silizium Circuits. “We designed the chip completely here in India with our 26-member team spread across Kochi and Hyderabad.”

Although the chip was ultimately manufactured abroad, as India still does not have its own semiconductor fabrication plant, every stage of its design, testing, and validation was carried out by Indian engineers.

The success of the chip is being seen as a major step towards India’s goal of becoming self-reliant in semiconductor technology, a field currently dominated by countries such as Taiwan, South Korea, and the United States.

For Silizium Circuits, which started small just a few years ago, the achievement has boosted confidence that Indian startups can compete globally in advanced chip design. “This is just the beginning,” Rijin said. “We want to make more such products that can power the next generation of communication and technology in India.”