India Tech Report: In Conversation

RISC-V and beyond: GS Madhusudan at Incore Semiconductors on building India's chip industry future

My guest in today’s episode is GS Madhusudan, Co-Founder and CEO of Incore Semiconductors [https://incoresemi.com/], a company at the forefront of processor IP innovation in India. With nearly four decades of experience in the technology sector, Madhusudan has played a significant role in shaping India's semiconductor landscape. Before co-founding Incore in 2018, he managed the Shakti processor project at IIT Madras, which helped build foundational expertise for commercial processor design in the country. Incore Semiconductors, incubated at the institute, emerged from this ecosystem, focusing on RISC-V architecture to offer customisable processor IP for applications ranging from consumer electronics to automotive and industrial settings. Under Madhusudan's leadership, Incore is combining technical advancement with practical business strategies, offering solutions for secure, fault-tolerant, and AI-optimised processors. The company has developed a flexible SOC generator platform and collaborates with multiple foundries, supporting customers from IP licensing to product tape-out. Incore is backed by the well-known VC firm Peak XV Partners. Madhusudan remains an active advisor to government agencies. He emphasises the importance of talent development, marketing and product management, and practical deployment in India's quest for a stronger presence in the global semiconductor market. Some chapters (00:00) Building India's Semiconductor Industry (03:04) The Shakti Project and InCore's Foundation (06:09) Understanding RISC-V Architecture (08:54) Evolving Beyond Proprietary Processes (11:46) The Role of Marketing and Product Management (14:43) India's Semiconductor Opportunities (18:07) Challenges in the Semiconductor Market (20:52) The Importance of Talent Development (23:59) Future Prospects for Indian Semiconductor Startups (27:03) Navigating the Chip Business Landscape (29:44) Advice for Aspiring Semiconductor Professionals

Preview: GS Madhusudan at Incore Semiconductors on India's fast evolving chip ecosystem

Coming up, in the next episode of In Conversation, G S Madhusudan [https://www.linkedin.com/in/gsmadhusudan/], Co-Founder and CEO of InCore Semiconductors [https://www.linkedin.com/company/incoresemi/], gives us a sense of how far India's chip ecosystem has come, and how quickly it's evolving. Catch the full conversation on Friday, Aug. 22nd, right here or wherever you get your podcasts. Here's a one-minute preview.

Abhijit Bhutey and Vishal Reddy on Inbound Aerospace's microgravity platform in space

In this episode, I’m joined by Abhijit Bhutey and Vishal Reddy, co-founders of Inbound Aerospace [https://inboundaerospace.com/about], a startup incubated at IIT Madras. The discussion covers the origins of their journey—from an academic collaboration focused on microgravity research to building a company designed for commercial space experimentation. They started simply with how the idea came to Arvind IB, their fellow founder, when as a PhD student at IIT Madras, he was exploring microgravity through drop tower experiments. The idea became a startup when Aravind was joined by Vishal, whose background includes graduate studies in the United States, and Abhijit, a former pilot with the Indian Navy who aspired to space entrepreneurship. In this conversation they explain the challenges and opportunities in creating usable microgravity platforms, detailing Inbound Aerospace’s mission to develop a reusable spacecraft that will carry research projects to low earth orbit and bring experiments back safely to earth. Abhijit and Vishal give us insights into microgravity's usefulness in biotech, materials science, and semiconductors, and explain how their vehicle is being designed for efficient re-entry and autonomous landing. The founders also share early milestones, including team building, subsystem testing, and initial funding, and reflect on broader trends and gaps in the Indian space-tech ecosystem.

Coming up: Founders of Inbound Aerospace on advanced manufacturing opportunities in microgravity

Coming up on Aug. 14: Why are SpaceTech startups working to build various microgravity platforms and solutions catching the attention of investors? In this exciting field of science and engineering, experts see many possibilities: from drug discovery and better medicines to 3D-printed life-saving organ replacements to ultra-efficient semiconductors. In my next episode of IndiaTechReport: In Conversation [https://www.indiatechreport.in/s/in-conversation], I catch up with Abhijit Bhutey [https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijit2002/] and Vishal Reddy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/vishal-reddyc99/], co-founders at Inbound Aerospace [https://www.linkedin.com/company/inboundaerospace/] along with ARAVIND I B [https://www.linkedin.com/in/aravindib/], whose idea has become this venture. Backed by investors including Speciale Invest [https://www.linkedin.com/company/specialeinvest/], and incubated at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras [https://www.linkedin.com/company/reachiitm/], this trio is developing an unmanned automated reusable platform for microgravity experiments in hashtag#AdvancedManufacturing. Another fine example of an attempt to contribute to hashtag#AatmanirbharBharat in a strategic tech domain, and I'm happy to bring you this conversation ahead of Independence Day. here's a 2-minute preview.

Rishabh Agarwal at PeerRobotics on breaking the adoption barriers for collaborative robots

In today’s episode, Rishabh Agarwal [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rishabh-agarwal-160413101/], Co-founder and CEO of PeerRobotics [https://www.peerrobotics.ai/], gives us a sense of how automation is changing for small and mid-sized manufacturers and outlines his vision for collaborative robotics. Rishabh shares his experience and perspective on the factory floor transition to advanced robotics. With a background in manufacturing and technical training from IIT Delhi and the University of Maryland, Agarwal built PeerRobotics with the aim of simplifying human-robot interaction and making automation intuitive for even non-technical users. The six-year-old company’s systems are designed for practical deployment in diverse industrial settings, where robots learn routes through human demonstration and adapt to existing workflows. Agarwal also describes how PeerRobotics approaches product development, aiming to own the whole stack. The company takes advantage of doing much of its engineering and development at its centres in India, while also tapping advanced R&D experience in the US in certain areas like computer vision.