Ward off espionage :India to design a home-grown microprocessor

[ant80]

Has nothing to do with security as in DDoS attacks. Absolutely nothing. Did a little bit more digging and here's what I figured out. ATV, ADS, Tejas, Arjun all are pretty complicated designs with multiple processors. Probably numbering thousands in the ATV and ADS. Right now, we rely on imported chips. That's what they want to avoid. This is security, but not not security in the sense we see it. This is similar to not relying on a different country to build these things in the first place. When I read this, I felt silly for posting the previous post. Why didn't I see that before?

 

[jamahir]

NEW DELHI: The chips may have been down at India’s computer hardware sector for some time now, but an ambitious government programme is looking to change that. Top scientists at some of the country’s ace scientific institutions are pooling energies, and the government some money, in an attempt to design a home-grown microprocessor, which they hope will ward off the rising threat of espionage into strategic segments like defence, telecom and space.

The project to make the India Microprocessor, as it is being tentatively called, will see scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and IIT Delhi coming together under the aegis of the department of IT.

An entity, to be called Zerone Corporation for now and with an initial investment of $200 million, will carry out the project, according to a government official involved in the process. A draft proposal in this regard is likely to be presented to the cabinet soon requesting funds, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Zerone, which will start operations from the facilities of a government-owned company, is also expected to give a leg up to India’s struggling semiconductor industry.

Demand for microchips from India’s booming technology sector is expected to touch $315 billion by 2015, but a semiconductor policy of previous years to encourage firms to manufacture them locally evoked little interest from the private sector.

However, the current plan has national security as the first priority, especially after reports of a global network of Chinese hackers breaking into sensitive installations worldwide, including the headquarters of Dalai Lama in Dharamshala and telecom networks in the UK. Just a week ago, South Korea had complained of an organised effort by North Korea to hack its government network.

The government document, a copy of which is with ET, presents several such scenarios. If the Indian Army's WAN (Wide Area Network) is cut off from other networks, hypothetically the army’s equipment can still be activated wirelessly by foreign parties to transfer information or compromise it, the document says.

“Unless India has its own microprocessor, we can never ensure that networks (that require microprocessors) such as telecom, Army WAN, and microprocessors used in BARC, ISRO, in aircraft such as Tejas, battle tanks and radars are not compromised,” the document points out.

It further cites recent UK reports that have raised concerns over importing a Chinese telecom major’s equipment for use in Britain’s telecom network, which may lead to espionage or a shut down during a war.

A consultative process is already on to decide the chip architecture and finalise the final name of the corporation along with other modalities. The revenue source of Zerone is likely to be from the sales and support of microprocessors and by providing training on the advanced technological architecture.

The India Microprocessor is likely to adopt Sun Microsystem’s Open Sparc open source chip design technology, along with Linux operating system and MySQL database software.


The chip could also help India develop a low-cost mobile phone, worth say just Rs 500, high-tech defence precision systems and a host of other applications in areas including healthcare and weather forecasting.

“Apart from defence sector, it will be a shot in the arm for the $10-billion IT hardware industry, if the government is successful in its move,” said Vinnie Mehta, executive director of hardware industry body MAIT, who was present at a recent meeting on the issue.

The meeting was presided by Prithviraj Chauhan, minister for science and technology, a week after the new government took charge.

“Whether the technology from foreign companies will continue to be available in future is uncertain. Basic research for an India microprocessor has been going on with a small team,” said an official with CSIR, who didn’t want to be named. He added that to make a microprocessor with complementary hardware, India would need a team of over 400 people.

The director-general of CSIR, Prof Brahmachari, a key player in this project, was unavailable for comment for this story.

According to Ramkumar Subramaniam, vice-president for sales & marketing at AMD India, private companies would like to work with the government on this. “A similar partnership was forged by AMD with the Chinese government for licensing key x86 microprocessor technology that helped them develop embedded computer solutions,” he said.

Poornima Shenoy, president of Indian Semiconductor Association, said the outsourced chip design industry in India was about $8 billion currently, and most of the intellectual property rests with companies based overseas.

“History has shown that the need for defence security has sparked a chip industry in most nations,” she said.
Unlike the US and China, India still does not have chip-making technology, and Zerone seeks to change that.

Initially, the land and building would be provided by the government while the company will be 80% owned by the government and 20% by employees. However, the fabrication of chips will be outsourced to a private foundry overseas, as India still does not have one.

Over the next two years, the stake is proposed to be relaxed to 49% for government, with 31% to be held by private IT hardware companies and the corporation’s strategic domestic customers. The proposed company is expected to hire only Indian nationals to work on the project.

IntelliBriefs

@Soumitra, what happened to this project ?? Who are the failed engineers and scientists now ??

It has been ten years since the announcement of this project and no indigenous processor designed as of yet. What are the hundreds of thousands of computer engineers in India doing ??

 

[Rizwan Alam]

@Soumitra, what happened to this project ?? Who are the failed engineers and scientists now ??

If you have failed then lable it as confidential.

 

[jamahir]

If you have failed then lable it as confidential.

Correct.

 

[Zhukov]

Typical example with what is wrong with subcontinent.
India should be focusing on Fab Industries more instead of jumping into developing a microprocessor. Everything is driven by Nationalistic Sentiments here and not market analysis.
Is their a single Commercial Fab Factory in India? No.
Can India Gradually Develop local Fab Industry with support of international corporations? Yes definitely.
But no do something that common man can get. WE ARE BUILDING A MICROPROCESSOR and everyone is Marry go crazy.
WE ARE DEVELOPING FABRICATION WAFER MANUFACTURING FACILITIES WITH SUPPORT OF JAPAN AND TAIWAN. No body will head an ear.
Same here in Pakistan. Assembling Fighter Jet is accomplished but Manufacturing Motorcar Cellphone and Buses is a far off Dream

 

[jamahir]

Typical example with what is wrong with subcontinent.
India should be focusing on Fab Industries more instead of jumping into developing a microprocessor. Everything is driven by Nationalistic Sentiments here and not market analysis.
Is their a single Commercial Fab Factory in India? No.
Can India Gradually Develop local Fab Industry with support of international corporations? Yes definitely.
But no do something that common man can get. WE ARE BUILDING A MICROPROCESSOR and everyone is Marry go crazy.
WE ARE DEVELOPING FABRICATION WAFER MANUFACTURING FACILITIES WITH SUPPORT OF JAPAN AND TAIWAN. No body will head an ear.
Same here in Pakistan. Assembling Fighter Jet is accomplished but Manufacturing Motorcar Cellphone and Buses is a far off Dream

Well, setting up a fab may be costly but it is something most middle-income countries can do.

But how many countries have their own microprocessor designed locally ?? Not many, yes ?? India has by now a few hundred thousand computer engineers yet there is not a single microprocessor or a single operating system from India. Why ?? Similar would be the case with Pakistan at a smaller scale.

What India and Pakistan should do is both : locally design a microprocessor as well as set up a small fab to start with.

 

[Goku]

Well, setting up a fab may be costly but it is something most middle-income countries can do.

But how many countries have their own microprocessor designed locally ?? Not many, yes ?? India has by now a few hundred thousand computer engineers yet there is not a single microprocessor or a single operating system from India. Why ?? Similar would be the case with Pakistan at a smaller scale.

What India and Pakistan should do is both : locally design a microprocessor as well as set up a small fab to start with.

We already have our own microprocessor. ISRO uses its own Vikram Microprocessor for its mission. What we need is Fab units from Taiwanese/Korean companies in a JVs with local companies

 

[fitpOsitive]

NEW DELHI: The chips may have been down at India’s computer hardware sector for some time now, but an ambitious government programme is looking to change that. Top scientists at some of the country’s ace scientific institutions are pooling energies, and the government some money, in an attempt to design a home-grown microprocessor, which they hope will ward off the rising threat of espionage into strategic segments like defence, telecom and space.

The project to make the India Microprocessor, as it is being tentatively called, will see scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and IIT Delhi coming together under the aegis of the department of IT.

An entity, to be called Zerone Corporation for now and with an initial investment of $200 million, will carry out the project, according to a government official involved in the process. A draft proposal in this regard is likely to be presented to the cabinet soon requesting funds, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Zerone, which will start operations from the facilities of a government-owned company, is also expected to give a leg up to India’s struggling semiconductor industry.

Demand for microchips from India’s booming technology sector is expected to touch $315 billion by 2015, but a semiconductor policy of previous years to encourage firms to manufacture them locally evoked little interest from the private sector.

However, the current plan has national security as the first priority, especially after reports of a global network of Chinese hackers breaking into sensitive installations worldwide, including the headquarters of Dalai Lama in Dharamshala and telecom networks in the UK. Just a week ago, South Korea had complained of an organised effort by North Korea to hack its government network.

The government document, a copy of which is with ET, presents several such scenarios. If the Indian Army's WAN (Wide Area Network) is cut off from other networks, hypothetically the army’s equipment can still be activated wirelessly by foreign parties to transfer information or compromise it, the document says.

“Unless India has its own microprocessor, we can never ensure that networks (that require microprocessors) such as telecom, Army WAN, and microprocessors used in BARC, ISRO, in aircraft such as Tejas, battle tanks and radars are not compromised,” the document points out.

It further cites recent UK reports that have raised concerns over importing a Chinese telecom major’s equipment for use in Britain’s telecom network, which may lead to espionage or a shut down during a war.

A consultative process is already on to decide the chip architecture and finalise the final name of the corporation along with other modalities. The revenue source of Zerone is likely to be from the sales and support of microprocessors and by providing training on the advanced technological architecture.

The India Microprocessor is likely to adopt Sun Microsystem’s Open Sparc open source chip design technology, along with Linux operating system and MySQL database software.


The chip could also help India develop a low-cost mobile phone, worth say just Rs 500, high-tech defence precision systems and a host of other applications in areas including healthcare and weather forecasting.

“Apart from defence sector, it will be a shot in the arm for the $10-billion IT hardware industry, if the government is successful in its move,” said Vinnie Mehta, executive director of hardware industry body MAIT, who was present at a recent meeting on the issue.

The meeting was presided by Prithviraj Chauhan, minister for science and technology, a week after the new government took charge.

“Whether the technology from foreign companies will continue to be available in future is uncertain. Basic research for an India microprocessor has been going on with a small team,” said an official with CSIR, who didn’t want to be named. He added that to make a microprocessor with complementary hardware, India would need a team of over 400 people.

The director-general of CSIR, Prof Brahmachari, a key player in this project, was unavailable for comment for this story.

According to Ramkumar Subramaniam, vice-president for sales & marketing at AMD India, private companies would like to work with the government on this. “A similar partnership was forged by AMD with the Chinese government for licensing key x86 microprocessor technology that helped them develop embedded computer solutions,” he said.

Poornima Shenoy, president of Indian Semiconductor Association, said the outsourced chip design industry in India was about $8 billion currently, and most of the intellectual property rests with companies based overseas.

“History has shown that the need for defence security has sparked a chip industry in most nations,” she said.
Unlike the US and China, India still does not have chip-making technology, and Zerone seeks to change that.

Initially, the land and building would be provided by the government while the company will be 80% owned by the government and 20% by employees. However, the fabrication of chips will be outsourced to a private foundry overseas, as India still does not have one.

Over the next two years, the stake is proposed to be relaxed to 49% for government, with 31% to be held by private IT hardware companies and the corporation’s strategic domestic customers. The proposed company is expected to hire only Indian nationals to work on the project.

IntelliBriefs

What security aspects will this Chip cover? I think security starts from Data link layer... so kinda puzzled by this post.
@jamahir @Soumitra

 

[jamahir]

What security aspects will this Chip cover? I think security starts from Data link layer... so kinda puzzled by this post.
@jamahir @Soumitra

You may know of a Ethernet facility called "Wake on LAN" that allows a suspended computer to be woken remotely.

And there is a facility from Intel called "Active Management Technology" for Intel system boards which allows a system administrator to remotely access most parts of a computer via a special chipset on the system board. I think this facility also has a "kill switch".

So the Indian scientific establishment fears that someone, like the American military or spy agencies, may remotely hack or disable the computers used by the Indian military, government and scientific bodies.

We already have our own microprocessor. ISRO uses its own Vikram Microprocessor for its mission. What we need is Fab units from Taiwanese/Korean companies in a JVs with local companies

In the SCL Mohali ( or Chandigarh ) mini-fab, manufactured is the ABACUS processor which is manufactured for military needs and and there is the Vikram processor for ISRO's needs but is the design / ISA ( Instruction Set Architecture ) indigenous to India ?? I don't think so.

By ISA I mean like Intel's x86 or ARM's ARM or SPARC.

There is currently the AJIT processor from IIT-Bombay and the Shakti processor from IIT-Madras but the former is based on SPARC ( which is American ) and the latter is based on RISC-V ( which is an international open source project started in America ).

What India needs to indigenously develop is a competitor to Intel, ARM etc. This non-development is a failure on part of the few hundreds of thousands of people who have gone through the colleges meant for computer engineering in India.

 

[fitpOsitive]

You may know of a Ethernet facility called "Wake on LAN" that allows a suspended computer to be woken remotely.

And there is a facility from Intel called "Active Management Technology" for Intel system boards which allows a system administrator to remotely access most parts of a computer via a special chipset on the system board. I think this facility also has a "kill switch".

So the Indian scientific establishment fears that someone, like the American military or spy agencies, may remotely hack or disable the computers used by the Indian military, government and scientific bodies.
.

Again, NETWORK is required(in or out). Commands are decoded on processor level. But the question is: Will attacker send any command that is not the part of ISA? The answer is no. Actually nobody can(will simply not work). So, it all comes to the network security, not computer security.

 

[jamahir]

Again, NETWORK is required(in or out). Commands are decoded on processor level. But the question is: Will attacker send any command that is not the part of ISA? The answer is no. Actually nobody can(will simply not work). So, it all comes to the network security, not computer security.

I agree. But once there is a network available, Intel's AMT can be used to control a computer without the user knowing or with any measure of control. Any information or command from the main processor or address / data lines seem to go through the AMT system. AMT seems to have its own dedicated processor for system management which sits between the main processor and the network adapter. At least that is why I could gather from the Wikipedia entry for AMT.

 

[jamahir]

NEW DELHI: The chips may have been down at India’s computer hardware sector for some time now, but an ambitious government programme is looking to change that. Top scientists at some of the country’s ace scientific institutions are pooling energies, and the government some money, in an attempt to design a home-grown microprocessor, which they hope will ward off the rising threat of espionage into strategic segments like defence, telecom and space.

The project to make the India Microprocessor, as it is being tentatively called, will see scientists from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and IIT Delhi coming together under the aegis of the department of IT.

An entity, to be called Zerone Corporation for now and with an initial investment of $200 million, will carry out the project, according to a government official involved in the process. A draft proposal in this regard is likely to be presented to the cabinet soon requesting funds, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Zerone, which will start operations from the facilities of a government-owned company, is also expected to give a leg up to India’s struggling semiconductor industry.

Demand for microchips from India’s booming technology sector is expected to touch $315 billion by 2015, but a semiconductor policy of previous years to encourage firms to manufacture them locally evoked little interest from the private sector.

However, the current plan has national security as the first priority, especially after reports of a global network of Chinese hackers breaking into sensitive installations worldwide, including the headquarters of Dalai Lama in Dharamshala and telecom networks in the UK. Just a week ago, South Korea had complained of an organised effort by North Korea to hack its government network.

The government document, a copy of which is with ET, presents several such scenarios. If the Indian Army's WAN (Wide Area Network) is cut off from other networks, hypothetically the army’s equipment can still be activated wirelessly by foreign parties to transfer information or compromise it, the document says.

“Unless India has its own microprocessor, we can never ensure that networks (that require microprocessors) such as telecom, Army WAN, and microprocessors used in BARC, ISRO, in aircraft such as Tejas, battle tanks and radars are not compromised,” the document points out.

It further cites recent UK reports that have raised concerns over importing a Chinese telecom major’s equipment for use in Britain’s telecom network, which may lead to espionage or a shut down during a war.

A consultative process is already on to decide the chip architecture and finalise the final name of the corporation along with other modalities. The revenue source of Zerone is likely to be from the sales and support of microprocessors and by providing training on the advanced technological architecture.

The India Microprocessor is likely to adopt Sun Microsystem’s Open Sparc open source chip design technology, along with Linux operating system and MySQL database software.


The chip could also help India develop a low-cost mobile phone, worth say just Rs 500, high-tech defence precision systems and a host of other applications in areas including healthcare and weather forecasting.

“Apart from defence sector, it will be a shot in the arm for the $10-billion IT hardware industry, if the government is successful in its move,” said Vinnie Mehta, executive director of hardware industry body MAIT, who was present at a recent meeting on the issue.

The meeting was presided by Prithviraj Chauhan, minister for science and technology, a week after the new government took charge.

“Whether the technology from foreign companies will continue to be available in future is uncertain. Basic research for an India microprocessor has been going on with a small team,” said an official with CSIR, who didn’t want to be named. He added that to make a microprocessor with complementary hardware, India would need a team of over 400 people.

The director-general of CSIR, Prof Brahmachari, a key player in this project, was unavailable for comment for this story.

According to Ramkumar Subramaniam, vice-president for sales & marketing at AMD India, private companies would like to work with the government on this. “A similar partnership was forged by AMD with the Chinese government for licensing key x86 microprocessor technology that helped them develop embedded computer solutions,” he said.

Poornima Shenoy, president of Indian Semiconductor Association, said the outsourced chip design industry in India was about $8 billion currently, and most of the intellectual property rests with companies based overseas.

“History has shown that the need for defence security has sparked a chip industry in most nations,” she said.
Unlike the US and China, India still does not have chip-making technology, and Zerone seeks to change that.

Initially, the land and building would be provided by the government while the company will be 80% owned by the government and 20% by employees. However, the fabrication of chips will be outsourced to a private foundry overseas, as India still does not have one.

Over the next two years, the stake is proposed to be relaxed to 49% for government, with 31% to be held by private IT hardware companies and the corporation’s strategic domestic customers. The proposed company is expected to hire only Indian nationals to work on the project.

IntelliBriefs

@Soumitra, I had tagged you for this OP. What happened to this project of the GoI ??

It's been ten years.

 

[Soumitra]

@Soumitra, I had tagged you for this OP. What happened to this project of the GoI ??

It's been ten years.

I dont track what other XYZ company is doing. You ask me about my company I will let you know.

 

[maximuswarrior]

I heard Indian CPU has mauled Intel and AMD combined.

 

[Daghalodi]

Sorry!!

Indians are busy saving cows and lynching minorities.