With a growing interest in the semiconductor sector, India is seeing a rise in startups that offer niche design solutions. One of them that has stood out lately is Bangalore-based FermionIC.
In a recent conversation with Digitimes Asia, Gautam Kumar Singh, CEO of the company said the company's USP is they provide a comprehensive beamformer plus front-end module IC solution for radar, and satellite communication applications.
"Unlike other RF companies, we provide an integrated solution for the entire signal chain, which means customers don't need to worry about interfacing with parts from different companies," Singh said. "Our higher PSAT beamformer chips do not require a pre-power amplifier, which simplifies system design and reduces component count, leading to significant cost and space savings.
"This is a unique feature that most of our competitors do not offer," Singh added. "Our approach allows for a much simpler system design overall, enhancing the efficiency and reducing the complexity for our clients."
Growth and expansion plans
The company has a team of about 35 people at the moment and plans to expand this in the next two to five years.
"Our engineering team comes from a product background, and we plan to grow to about 60 to 70 engineers in the next year," Singh said. "We are looking to expand our system engineering team to focus on modular-micro-systems and application engineering."
The company expects large radar companies will use its parts, and he anticipates the adoption of Fermionic parts in full-volume production soon. Singh also aims to expand Fermionic's portfolio and explore the use of its core technologies for automotive applications.
"You may see some prototypes coming which will be suitable even for the automotive and V-band contactless gigabit transceiver market in say, like, at least in a proto stage in the next two years as such," Singh added. "That's the target we'll be keeping here."
Customers from the integration business
In terms of the market, their customers are businesses, as the semiconductor sector operates on a B2B (business-to-business) model. Their customers are mostly system integrators. For example, their ICs will be core components for the radars built by AMPLs, BELs, or other large global companies such as Northrop Grumman or Teledyne.
"Our core technology is for the X-band, which covers applications in SATCOM, electronic warfare, military radar, and weather sensing," Singh said. "Our parts are already listed on the GoI e-Marketplace GeMs portal, and our customers from the Government organization reach us through this marketplace, which can be slow."
"We are also looking into expanding our market rapidly, as previous generations of radar solutions were based on the C-band, but we are investing in the X-band as the future," Singh added.
Demand from abroad and domestic
Fermionic's strategic sector needs, particularly in defense and electronic warfare, are primarily driven by demand from India. Nonetheless, the company is vigorously pursuing to expand its international presence by forming strategic partnerships and marketing its parts in various other regions.
"For me, strategic sector demands, such as satcom, defense, and airborne systems, will certainly come from India," Gautam said. "At the same time, we are trying to expand our global footprint through strategic partnerships, aiming to distribute our parts in other geographies as well. We are continuously working towards this."
However, in terms of the most immediate demand over the next two years, it is expected to come domestically. Looking five years ahead, a significant international presence within their country is anticipated. Once a footprint is established and solutions are delivered, this will facilitate the expansion into other systems, which will lead to further growth.
Open to customers
There's a significant geographical aspect to RF technology, given its intrinsic properties. For example, the frequency band that reaches up to 12 gigahertz is quite wide. A country may use only a limited range within this. Most chip manufacturers aim to cover a wide dynamic range to accommodate these variations.
To reach customers worldwide, the company has also listed on the Indian government's portal GeM, although, the response time from this can be slow for multiple reasons.
"One issue is the categorization of products on the platform is not very clear," Singh said. "It would be beneficial to have better product categorization. For instance, if someone knows that a Fermionic product is listed, finding it is easy. However, for someone unfamiliar with it, locating it can be challenging."
Orders through GeM are fulfilled through various tender mechanisms. Despite the challenges, Singh remains hopeful that the market will expand, and demand will grow at a much more rapid pace.
"Previously, most radar solutions were based on the C-band and S-band, which ranged from two to four gigahertz," Singh said. "Even India's flagship programs primarily utilized the C-band. But now the market is recognizing the X-band as the future."
