Siliconpolitik
The Siliconpolitik Project seeks to answer two main questions: How do semiconductors play a role in changing the global technology landscape? And what role does India have to play in it?
The Siliconpolitik Approach
Semiconductors have become a domain of hectic geopolitical contestation. The supply chain's geopolitical vulnerability has sparked a spate of industrial policies aiming to indigenise semiconductor supply chain production. We, at the Takshashila Institution believe that India should play a different game — it should leverage its comparative advantage in semiconductor design to occupy strategic points in the supply chain.
Semiconductors are meta-critical - there are geopolitical, geoeconomic, & technological imperatives for securing access to semiconductors. The COVID-19 pandemic and the geographic concentration of semiconductor manufacturing have exposed the vulnerabilities of the semiconductor supply chain.
In response, many nation-states are offering subsidies in the hope of nationalising the semiconductor supply chain. In this geopolitical context, the Siliconpolitik project will propose a way forward for India to secure its strategic interests in this domain.
Recent Analysis
By Satya S. Sahu and Amit Kumar
By Sarthak Pradhan and Pranay Kotasthane
By Aditya Ramanathan, Pranay Kotasthane, Sarthak Pradhan, and Satya Sahu
By Saurabh Todi and Pranay Kotasthane
By Satya S. Sahu & Miheer Karandikar
By Shrikrishna Upadhyaya
By Arjun Gargeyas, Samparna Tripathy and Anup Rajput
By Takshashila’s High Tech Geopolitics Programme
By Pranay Kotasthane and Arjun Gargeyas
By Arjun Gargeyas, Aditya Pareek and Pranay Kotasthane
By Arjun Gargeyas and Pranay Kotasthane
By Samparna Tripathy, Anup Rajput, Amol Sarin and Pranay Kotasthane
In the News
Recent Commentaries
By Anushka Saxena and Satya S Sahu
By Satya S Sahu & Pranay Kotasthane
By Amit Kumar & Satya Sahu
By Satya S Sahu & Rijesh Panicker
By Pranay Kotasthane & Abhiram Manchi
Videos and Podcasts
Pranay Kotasthane, Deputy Director & Chair of the High-Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution appeared on All India Radio on July 28, 2023, to speak about the Semicon India 2023 taking place in New Delhi.
Pranay Kotasthane, Deputy Director & Chair of the High-Tech Geopolitics Programme at the Takshashila Institution appeared on CNBC on July 19, 2023 to speak about the geopolitics in play between the U.S. and China surrounding semiconductor exports.
Pranay Kotasthane, Deputy Director of the Takshashila Institution, is joined by Murali Annavaram, Navakanta Bhat and Sanjay Palsamudram in conversation with Narayan Ramachandran on Charting the Future of the Semiconductor Industry, held at the Bangalore International Centre on 17th November 2022.
Siliconpolitik Team
Pranay Kotasthane is deputy director of the Takshashila Institution. Pranay’s current research includes high tech geopolitics and the politics of radically networked societies. Pranay teaches public policy, international relations, and public finance at Takshashila’s graduate and post-graduate programmes.
Satya is a Research Analyst with the High-tech Geopolitics programme at Takshahsila. His research primarily focuses on Technology policy, Semiconductor Geopolitics, and AI Governance. He also curates the HTG programme’s flagship newsletter, Technopolitik.
A graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, he has completed Takshashila’s GCPP (Technology and Policy) and now teaches modules on semiconductors, AI governance, and responsible strategy in the same course.
Sanjay Palsamudram is an Adjunct Specialist at Takshashila's Siliconpolitik project. With over a quarter-century at the forefront of technology, Sanjay has distinguished himself as an engineer, serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and mentor in the fields of semiconductors, software, and systems. He holds board memberships across several tech companies and venture funds.
Contributors
Abhiram is a Senior CAD Engineer in one of the largest semiconductor firms in the world. He is also a tech policy enthusiast having taken the GCTP course offered by Takshashila. His interest primarily is in the semiconductor industry, its role as a national power and the geopolitics surrounding it.
Anup is an Electronics Engineer who has worked with some of the biggest semiconductor firms. He currently is the co-founder of a startup, NUJ AI. He is interested in the applications of Machine Learning, Industrial IoT, Computer Vision and AI at scale.
Samparna is currently working as as the Head of Product at Goodmeetings. She previously worked with the Government of Odisha as a Communications Specialist. She has also done Takshashila’s PGP in Public Policy. Her research interests span the Indian semiconductor industry and its related policies.