C2i Semiconductors: India-Designed Power Silicon for the AI Computing Era

Artificial intelligence is often associated with GPUs, processors and advanced memory. Yet another semiconductor layer is becoming equally important: power management.

AI accelerators consume enormous amounts of electricity. Supplying that power efficiently, reliably and at the correct voltage is becoming a major engineering challenge for data centres.

Bengaluru-based C2i Semiconductors is targeting this problem. The Indian fabless semiconductor startup is developing intelligent power-management chips and architectures for AI servers, cloud infrastructure and high-performance computing systems.

Rather than designing another AI processor, C2i is working on the electronics that ensure processors receive power efficiently.

Building the Power Layer Behind AI

Modern AI servers contain powerful GPUs and CPUs that operate at relatively low voltages while drawing extremely high currents.

Electricity therefore undergoes several conversion stages before reaching the processor. Every conversion creates some energy loss. That lost electricity becomes heat, which then requires additional cooling.

As AI computing density increases, even small improvements in conversion efficiency can produce significant savings across a large data centre.

C2i describes its approach as grid-to-core power management. Instead of optimising only one component, the company is examining how power travels from the incoming electrical supply through the server and ultimately to the processor.

The goal is to make that entire chain more intelligent and responsive.

A Software-Defined Voltage Regulator Platform

A central element of C2i’s work is a software-defined Voltage Regulator platform.

The architecture combines semiconductor power stages with intelligent control. It can adjust power delivery according to processor requirements and changing workloads.

This becomes important in AI computing because GPU workloads can change rapidly. Power systems must respond quickly while keeping voltage stable.

TDK Ventures says C2i’s platform includes two important technologies: the Manas Controller and the Sarayu Power Stage.

The Manas Controller provides the intelligent control layer. It has been designed to adapt to changes in the power-delivery network and processor requirements.

The Sarayu Power Stage performs the high-current power conversion closer to the computing hardware.

Together, they are intended to create a programmable and highly efficient power-delivery architecture for next-generation processors.

Targeting Higher Energy Efficiency

C2i and its investors are targeting power-conversion efficiency above 96%, compared with roughly 94% cited for conventional solutions in this class of application. These figures remain company projections and will ultimately depend on validation under real operating conditions.

A difference of two percentage points may appear small. At data-centre scale, however, it can become substantial.

TDK Ventures estimates that C2i’s architecture could allow processors to operate by as much as 4°C cooler. It also estimates that a 100 MW AI data centre could potentially save around $12 million annually through improved conversion efficiency and lower heat-related energy requirements. These are projected figures rather than independently demonstrated commercial results.

Reducing temperature can provide another advantage.

Lower thermal stress may increase component reliability and potentially extend the usable life of costly AI accelerators.

India’s AI Power Chip Reaches Tape-Out

C2i achieved an important development milestone in May 2026 when it announced the tape-out of its first smart power-stage chip for AI infrastructure.

Tape-out means the semiconductor design has been completed and sent for fabrication. It marks the transition from circuit design and simulation toward physical silicon.

C2i said the chip was conceived, architected and verified entirely by its engineering team in India. It has been designed to regulate and optimise power supplied to high-performance GPUs and CPUs used in AI servers.

This distinction is important.

India has supported global semiconductor companies with engineering talent for decades. However, Indian companies owning the architecture, intellectual property and commercial semiconductor product represent a deeper move into the value chain.

C2i’s tape-out therefore represents more than the completion of one chip design. It demonstrates the ability of an Indian startup to develop complex mixed-signal semiconductor intellectual property aimed at a global computing market.

Built Around Indian Semiconductor Expertise

C2i Semiconductors was incorporated in Bengaluru on 5 June 2024.

Its founding team brings decades of experience from companies including Texas Instruments, National Semiconductor and Maxim Integrated.

The company’s leadership includes founder and CEO Ram Anant, CTO and VP Engineering Preetam Tadeparthy, mixed-signal specialist Vikram Gakhar, digital and software specialist Vikas Lakhanpal, and power specialist B.S. Dattatreya.

Their backgrounds are particularly relevant because power-management ICs sit at the intersection of analog design, mixed-signal electronics, control systems, embedded software and power electronics.

These are technically demanding areas where engineering experience and intellectual property can create substantial entry barriers.

Supported by India’s Design Linked Incentive Scheme

C2i was approved for support under India’s Design Linked Incentive Scheme from November 1, 2024.

The programme provides eligible Indian semiconductor companies with financial assistance and access to advanced Electronic Design Automation tools and semiconductor intellectual property resources.

According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, C2i rapidly expanded its engineering workforce to around 65 engineers and became one of the leading users of the centralised EDA infrastructure provided through the ChipIN Centre.

This highlights an important aspect of India’s semiconductor strategy.

Building fabrication plants is only one part of semiconductor self-reliance. Countries also require companies that own chip architectures, designs, patents and product intellectual property.

Fabless semiconductor companies such as C2i can contribute to this layer without initially requiring their own fabrication plants.

Global Investors Back the Technology

The company has also attracted significant private investment.

In February 2026, Peak XV Partners led a $15 million Series A investment in C2i, alongside other investors. The Government of India described it at the time as the largest funding round achieved by an Indian semiconductor startup.

The round was subsequently extended to $16.7 million, with TDK Ventures participating alongside Peak XV Partners and other semiconductor investors.

TDK’s involvement is particularly relevant because the Japanese electronics group has extensive experience in passive components, power electronics and electronic materials.

C2i says the relationship can provide access to expertise and an international ecosystem as it works toward qualification and mass production.

Peak XV, meanwhile, describes C2i as a deep-tech semiconductor company focused on improving performance-per-watt in advanced computing systems.

Power Management Is Becoming Part of the AI Race

The global AI race is steadily expanding beyond processors.

Future data-centre performance will depend on several interconnected technologies: advanced packaging, memory bandwidth, networking, cooling and increasingly power delivery.

Adding more GPUs is useful only when enough electricity can reach those GPUs efficiently.

At very high rack densities, power-conversion losses create additional heat. Cooling that heat consumes more electricity, placing further pressure on the data centre.

Better power-management semiconductors can therefore increase the amount of useful computing performed from the same electrical infrastructure.

For cloud providers and hyperscale data-centre operators, this can influence operating costs, hardware reliability and the ability to expand computing capacity.

Moving India from Chip Design Talent to Chip Ownership

C2i also represents a broader transition within India’s semiconductor sector.

India already possesses a large semiconductor engineering base. For decades, Indian engineers have worked on chips developed by multinational companies.

The next stage is creating Indian companies that own semiconductor products and intellectual property.

C2i’s model directly addresses that ambition.

The company is headquartered in India, its core semiconductor development is being undertaken domestically, and its first AI power chip reached tape-out through an Indian engineering team. Government design support is being combined with private venture capital and global semiconductor partnerships.

If companies following this model reach commercial scale, India could participate in the semiconductor industry not only through manufacturing and engineering services, but also through high-value semiconductor product companies.

The Road from Tape-Out to Commercial Production

Tape-out is a major milestone, but it is not the end of semiconductor development.

Fabricated silicon must undergo testing and validation. Engineers must confirm electrical characteristics, efficiency, thermal behaviour and reliability across demanding operating conditions.

Products intended for AI servers face particularly demanding requirements. Data-centre customers expect high reliability because failures can interrupt extremely expensive computing infrastructure.

C2i must therefore demonstrate that its projected efficiency and thermal advantages are reproducible in physical silicon and large-scale systems.

Customer qualification, manufacturing partnerships, supply-chain reliability and volume production will determine whether the technology progresses from promising engineering to widespread commercial deployment.

A New Make in India Opportunity Inside the AI Stack

India’s AI ambitions will require much more than software models and data centres.

The underlying hardware stack contains processors, memory, networking, cooling systems, power converters and thousands of specialised electronic components.

C2i Semiconductors is attempting to place Indian technology inside one of the less visible but increasingly critical layers of that stack.

Its focus on intelligent power delivery shows how Indian semiconductor companies can target specialised global markets rather than attempting to compete immediately across every category of chips.

The company’s first tape-out is therefore an important technological checkpoint.

The larger test will come as C2i moves through silicon validation, customer qualification and mass production.

If the technology performs as projected, an Indian-designed semiconductor could eventually sit just centimetres away from some of the world’s most powerful AI processors, quietly controlling the electricity that keeps them running.

That would represent a meaningful evolution of Make in India — from assembling electronic systems to creating the silicon technologies at their core.

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Sources

Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology — DLI Scheme support and C2i Semiconductors programme details.

C2i Semiconductors — official company information and leadership profiles.

TDK Ventures — C2i investment, voltage-regulator architecture and projected efficiency figures.

Peak XV Partners — C2i Semiconductors portfolio information.

C2i tape-out announcement and reporting on the India-designed smart power-stage chip.

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