Mindgrove Debuts RISC-V Prototype MCU

From a country known for its software talent, Mindgrove Technologies, a three-year-old design startup, has launched India’s first homegrown commercially available chip. It’s a microcontroller unit (MCU), accurately, if unimaginatively, named ‘Secure IoT’. The chip is based on a 64-bit RISC-V single-core CPU from the Shakti family, etched using TSMC’s 28nm HPC+ technology. The chip is currently sampling and will go into production in Q4 2024.

With Secure IoT and the upcoming line-up of products, Mindgrove targets a “vacant” mid-range market in India, aiming to offer about 60% to 70% of the features in high-end chips at a 30% to 40% lower cost. The company positions itself against heavyweights like Texas Instruments, NXP Semiconductors, and Renesas.