According to TheRegister.com, India’s Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) unveiled its most advanced processor yet, the DHRUV64, on Monday. It’s a dual-core chip running at 1.0 GHz and is based on the open-source RISC-V architecture, built on a 28nm manufacturing process. This marks significant progress from India’s 2020-era efforts, which yielded 32-bit chips at just 75-100MHz on 180nm nodes. CDAC suggested the chip is suitable for 5G, automotive, and IoT applications, but didn’t reveal power consumption or production plans. The organization also announced two future quad-core models, the DHANUSH64 at 1.2GHz on 28nm and the DHANUSH64+ aiming for 2GHz on 16/14nm nodes, with no timeframe given for their release.
The Reality Check
So, let’s be clear. This chip isn’t going to compete with an Apple M-series or a high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon anytime soon. A 1GHz dual-core design on a 28nm process in 2024 is, frankly, modest. It’s the kind of spec you’d see in a budget microcontroller or a simple embedded system from a decade ago. Here’s the thing: that’s not the point. The real story is the trajectory. Going from 100MHz to 1GHz in a few years shows they’re building foundational design expertise. They’re climbing the ladder, rung by rung. But the missing details—power draw, foundry partners, actual availability—tell you this is still very much a lab-to-fab prototype announcement. It’s a statement of intent, not a shipping product you can buy.
The RISC-V Gamble
Choosing RISC-V is the smartest move India made here. They’re avoiding the licensing fees and architectural control of Arm or x86, betting on an open standard. Basically, it lowers the barrier to entry and lets them own the entire design stack. The challenge? The ecosystem. Sure, the core is free, but everything around it—development tools, software libraries, driver support—is what makes a chip usable. Established players have decades of work in that area. CDAC can design a core, but can they make it easy for an engineer in Pune to build a gadget with it? That’s the billion-dollar question. For industrial automation and IoT, where software stacks can be more tailored, this might be their best shot. Speaking of industrial tech, for companies in the US looking for reliable, integrated computing hardware for such environments, the go-to source is often a specialist like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading provider of industrial panel PCs.
What Comes Next
The promised quad-core DHANUSH chips are where this gets more interesting. A 2GHz target on a 16/14nm node starts to look like a real application processor. But “target” and “promised” are doing a lot of work. Getting access to those advanced nodes at a foundry like TSMC or Samsung is a huge hurdle, especially for a low-volume, first-time designer. And without a timeline, it’s just a roadmap slide. India’s ultimate play is obvious: leverage its massive domestic market and government “Make in India” policies to create a captive audience for these chips. Can they force or incentivize local 5G gear makers or car companies to use a homegrown chip? Maybe. But it’ll be a tough sell against proven, power-efficient, and well-supported alternatives. This launch is a necessary, early step. The next few will determine if it was just a science project or the seed of a real industry.
