India is projecting its deep tech ecosystem as a growing space, backed by numerous fund announcements, subsidies, and private funding. Capital is flowing into semiconductors, AI startups building LLMs tailored for Indian languages, space and quantum computing, with robotics looming in the background.
Government-backed programmes such as the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM), the National Quantum Mission, and ISRO’s various space programmes, alongside a growing startup ecosystem, are pushing the country towards building core technologies, not just services.
This deep tech push might just be what the country needs to become a product provider. Yet, beneath this growth lies a gap that remains largely undiscussed despite its importance.
Industry leaders say India is not investing enough in the infrastructure that validates these technologies before they even reach the market. This validation is provided by the test and measurement (T&M) layer of the supply chain.
Shitendra Bhattacharya, Country Head and Director at Emerson’s (formerly National Instruments) Test and Measurement business, points out that while progress is visible, a key piece of the ecosystem is still underdeveloped.
“The T&M layer is still thin… The ecosystem has design strength and some OSAT momentum, but the infrastructure that validates the silicon packages and systems at scale is still missing in several places,” he says.
Why is No One Talking?
Testing sits between design and deployment and ensures that chips, systems and devices work as intended under real conditions. However, Bhattacharya tells AIM that this layer remains underdeveloped in India.
“Testing is usually invisible in technology,” he says. “But it is one of the highest leverage layers in the ecosystem.”
For the variety of OSAT facilities announced under ISM, testing equipment is needed to test chips for power behaviour, signal integrity and reliability after fabrication. In India, many design teams still rely on global labs abroad for deep validation, according to Bhattacharya.
He also highlights gaps in advanced packaging validation. New technologies such as chiplets require complex, high-speed testing systems that are not widely available in India. While some validation efforts exist, such as the chip validation facility at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Bengaluru announced in early February, they are still focused on the pre-silicon stage rather than the later, more demanding stages.
Another major challenge is talent. Testing requires specialised skills in instrumentation, RF systems and automated workflows.
“That test engineering talent pipeline is still relatively very small in India,” Bhattacharya says.
He adds that Emerson works with a wide range of customers across this ecosystem. These include automotive OEMs, tier-1 suppliers and engineering services firms. “We’ve been working with some of the leading two-wheeler manufacturers and three-wheeler manufacturers too.”
The company also collaborates with organisations in the aerospace, defence and research sectors. Its customers include agencies such as ISRO and DRDO, as well as private players building deep tech systems. He added that engineering services companies are emerging as key partners due to their exposure to global markets and their ability to adapt to new technologies.
From Unit Tests to System Stress
The rise of AI and large-scale computing is also reshaping how testing is done. Venkat Pullela, CTO for Networking at Keysight Technologies, says traditional testing methods are no longer sufficient.
“With AI, people are forced to do system testing,” he says. “You cannot do unit testing anymore.”
He explains that failures now emerge at the system level rather than at individual components. This increases validation complexity and raises the cost of errors. For instance, in a system with a million GPUs, oven underperforming unit can impact overall performance significantly.
This shift is pushing companies to test systems earlier in the development cycle. Engineers are combining simulation, emulation and real components to identify issues before hardware is ready.
“You have to take system testing before you even have an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit),” Pullela says.
This approach, often referred to as ‘shift left’, reduces testing time and improves efficiency.
Meanwhile, Bhattacharya adds that AI is also being used within testing systems. Machine learning models can analyse large volumes of test data, detect anomalies and optimise test coverage.
Why the Timing Matters Now
While India’s semiconductor push has gained momentum through policy support and funding, Bhattacharya feels that testing infrastructure must grow alongside fabrication and design.
“These things have to go hand in hand,” he says. “They have to be in tandem and cannot be a sequential effort at all.”
He pointed out that in mature ecosystems such as Taiwan and the US, validation infrastructure was developed much earlier. These regions built dense testing ecosystems around fabs and design centres.
India, he says, has the chance to take a different route by investing directly in modern systems. “We don’t necessarily need to replicate the Taiwan path exactly… There’s an opportunity to jump directly to modern, automated validation infrastructure.”
This could include shared national validation labs and automated testing platforms that serve startups and large companies alike. Pullela added that the speed of change in AI and networking makes early testing even more critical, citing the industry’s pace of change.
Much Beyond Semiconductors
The impact of testing extends beyond chips. Bhattacharya notes that industries such as space and automotive depend heavily on validation systems.
In the space sector, testing ensures reliability before launch. Systems must be validated under simulated conditions because they cannot be repaired later. “You cannot fix a satellite once it’s launched,” he says.
He explained that testing systems are used to recreate space-like conditions on Earth, allowing engineers to validate satellite components, including communication payloads, navigation electronics, and onboard computers, before integration.
These systems rely on modular instrumentation to simulate signals and capture responses across multiple components simultaneously. Emerson has supported several national missions in this process.
“We have been associated with all national missions like Chandrayaan, Gaganyaan, and have catered to all national programs in some form,” he says.
In the automotive industry, the shift to software-defined vehicles has increased the need for testing across electronics and software. Startups face a separate challenge. Many lack access to testing infrastructure. Testing now spans components, full systems and manufacturing stages, including hardware-in-the-loop simulations and end-of-line checks.
Bhattacharya suggests that shared facilities can help bridge this gap. “We invite startups to come and utilise our engineering innovation centres,” he says.
India has the potential to turn its testing gap into an advantage. By investing in validation infrastructure, the country can strengthen its position in the global supply chain. “If India looks at building a strong, automated test infrastructure, it could become a hub for semiconductor validation services,” Bhattacharya says.
Pullela adds that the industry is still evolving and far from reaching its limits. As India builds its deep tech capabilities, testing may remain less visible than fabs or funding announcements. But without it, the systems being developed cannot move beyond the lab.
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