Three Factories, Three Countries: How the Supply Chain Is Sequenced
DeepGrid designs for three foundries in sequence rather than one: SkyWater in the USA (130 nm) for first silicon, IHP in Germany (130 nm SiGe) for the radar front end, and SCL Mohali in India (180 nm) for production. That spreads the risk of any single fab. It does not make the supply chain domestic: only SCL is in India, and first silicon is made in the USA.
Three foundries, in sequence: SkyWater in the USA is the proven first step; IHP in Germany is the differentiated step, its 130 nm SiGe process carrying the 77 GHz radar front end; SCL Mohali in India is the sovereign step, for 180 nm high-voltage and screened defence parts. The three-factory architecture sets out what ports between them and what has to be redesigned.
Open-source flow: tape-outs use an open-source flow (Yosys, OpenROAD) on the open SkyWater PDK, so there is no per-seat EDA licence, and DeepGrid owns 100% of its RTL and GDSII.
Procurement rules, not immunity: under DAP-2020, Buy (Indian-IDDM) requires at least 50% indigenous content with Indian design and fabrication, which the SCL Mohali route targets, and Buy (Indian) requires at least 60% indigenous content with Indian-owned design. First silicon is made in the USA, so the supply chain is spread across countries, not domestic.
- Three-Factory Foundry Redundancy: Portable GDSII masks qualified across SkyWater 130 nm, IHP SiGe, and SCL Mohali 180 nm.
- Open-Source EDA: an open-source RTL-to-GDSII toolchain removes per-seat EDA licence costs and dependence.
- Domestic Wirebond Packaging: Standard 64-pin QFN packaging eliminates reliance on foreign advanced packaging foundries.
- Statutory Procurement Preference: Indian-designed parts are preferred under DAP-2020 Make-II, and PIL-5 lists import bans with deadlines.