A Purdue–IIT Hyderabad initiative aligns research, talent development, and industry collaboration as the United States and India deepen cooperation in a strategically vital sector.
By Zahoor Hussain Bhat, U.S. Embassy New Delhi
From smartphones and medical equipment to data centers and defense systems, semiconductors underpin modern economies. As global demand rises and supply chain vulnerabilities persist, both the United States and India are reassessing how they design, manufacture, and secure advanced chips.
This shared focus led Purdue University and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad to establish the U.S.–India Center of Excellence in Semiconductors. The initiative connects research, workforce development, and industry engagement in support of broader national semiconductor priorities in both countries.
“The United States brings leadership in advanced semiconductor research and innovation, while India brings scale, talent, and bold ambitions in manufacturing,” says Professor Vijay Raghunathan, a vice president at Purdue University and the university ambassador to India.
The center is designed to connect those complementary strengths. For U.S. institutions, it offers a platform to expand research collaboration and workforce development with a large and growing talent base. For India, it supports efforts to move beyond chip design toward deeper participation in manufacturing and advanced packaging.
A long-term vision
Raghunathan notes that semiconductor leadership increasingly depends not just on transistor scaling but on how integrated systems are designed and manufactured. That shift places greater emphasis on coordination across design, materials, packaging, and system integration—areas where collaboration across institutions and borders becomes critical.
Professor B. S. Murty, director of IIT Hyderabad, emphasizes the center’s role in strengthening the talent base. “The Center of Excellence is envisioned as a one-stop solution for talent development and for collaboration between Indian and U.S. academia and industry,” he says.
He adds that India contributes nearly 20 percent of the world’s semiconductor design workforce while the United States remains a leader in advanced semiconductor technology. “The center connects those strengths in a structured way,” he notes, operating as a consortium linking universities, industry partners, and government stakeholders in both countries.
Over the past few years, IIT Hyderabad has developed specialized programs in chip design, manufacturing, packaging, and materials, aiming to prepare engineers for roles across the semiconductor value chain.
Training for impact
Before the establishment of the Center of Excellence, IIT Hyderabad ran an international workforce development program under the Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC) initiative of India’s Ministry of Education, in collaboration with Purdue University.
The three-phase program started with a foundational workshop, continued with hands-on training at IIT Hyderabad, and concluded with advanced sessions at Purdue’s Birck Nanotechnology Center . Across two iterations, 39 students completed the program. Many joined the semiconductor industry, while others pursued higher studies.
Both Raghunathan and Murty see the success of this initiative as a foundation for the center’s broader mission: scaling talent development while tying it more closely to research and industry needs.
Purdue has also expanded its semiconductor workforce initiatives into policy and governance topics like export controls, intellectual property protection, and responsible technology use in ways that complement the center’s mission.
“These courses, developed with support from a U.S. Department of State grant, help semiconductor engineers and industry leaders navigate compliance and responsible technology development in a global setting,” says Raghunathan.
Industry and policy integration
Industry engagement supports the center’s strategic goal of aligning U.S.-India semiconductor research and workforce initiatives. Leading American semiconductor and design automation companies, including Intel, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, AMD, and Synopsys have R&D operations in India, many based in Hyderabad.
“The center aims to work closely with these companies to align research, workforce training, and pathways for moving ideas into practice,” says Raghunathan.
Murty notes that the consortium approach helps create a continuous pipeline from research to prototyping and product realization, reinforcing the importance of U.S.-India cooperation in the global semiconductor ecosystem.
“Purdue’s partnership with the Government of India’s Semiconductor Mission naturally extends through the center,” Raghunathan adds. “When done well, collaborations like this make cooperation easier to sustain over time and form the backbone of a broader U.S.-India semiconductor partnership.”