Powering the silicon revolution

As artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing, autonomous mobility and connected devices redefine the digital economy, semiconductors have emerged as one of the world’s most strategic industries. Every breakthrough in AI, cloud computing, automotive electronics or consumer technology begins with increasingly sophisticated chips. Quietly enabling this transformation from India is Tessolve Semiconductor Pvt Ltd (Tessolve), a Bengaluru-headquartered company that has grown into the world’s largest standalone semiconductor engineering solutions provider.

Founded in 2004 by semiconductor veteran Srinivas Chinamilli and his co-founders, Tessolve has built an end-to-end semiconductor engineering platform that today partners with 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies. Backed by US-based private equity major TPG, the company has built one of the world’s most comprehensive semiconductor engineering platforms, supporting customers from chip architecture and design to validation, testing and manufacturing readiness. It specialises in chip design, silicon validation, test engineering, embedded software and product engineering services.

Over the past 22 years, it has evolved from India’s first independent semiconductor testing laboratory into a global engineering powerhouse, helping customers take semiconductor products from concept to commercial production. Tessolve has entered a new phase of accelerated growth. After crossing the R1,000-crore revenue milestone in FY2025 and clocking revenue of R1,526 crore in FY26, the company expects to surpass R2,000 crore in revenue during FY27, underlining the robust demand for semiconductor engineering worldwide. The company’s ability to combine sustained profitability with rapid expansion has made it one of the most attractive semiconductor engineering businesses to emerge from India.

Supporting this expansion is a landmark $150-million investment led by global private equity major TPG in September 2025, one of the largest private equity investments made in an Indian semiconductor engineering company. The transaction, which valued Tessolve at around $450 million, marked an important milestone not only for the company but also for India’s deep-technology ecosystem. Existing investors include Hero Electronix, the technology investment arm of the Munjal family, and Singapore-based private equity firm Novo Tellus Capital Partners, both of whom have played an important role in the company’s evolution.

Investors’ choice

Beyond providing growth capital, TPG’s investment reflected growing global confidence in semiconductor engineering as a strategic business. The investment has strengthened Tessolve’s balance sheet while providing additional resources to expand engineering capabilities, establish advanced semiconductor laboratories and pursue strategic acquisitions across key global markets. It has also enhanced the company’s ability to attract world-class engineering talent and support increasingly complex customer engagements.

The company’s rise mirrors India’s own emergence as an important destination for semiconductor engineering. Long before semiconductors became a national priority, Tessolve recognised that while chip manufacturing was concentrated in Taiwan, South Korea and the United States, engineering talent could be developed in India. It invested early, patiently building capabilities when the domestic ecosystem was still in its infancy.

“We started with a vision of building world-class semiconductor engineering capabilities from India at a time when the ecosystem barely existed. Over the last two decades, we have built a complete engineering platform that enables customers to take semiconductor products from concept to production,” says Srinivas Chinamilli, Co-founder and CEO.

A semiconductor industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, Srinivas has been instrumental in building Tessolve from a start-up into a trusted engineering partner for many of the world’s leading semiconductor companies. His leadership has been defined by two parallel ambitions: creating a company with world-class engineering capabilities and building an organisation where people can grow, innovate and thrive. Previously, he held engineering and leadership positions at Cirrus Logic and Centillium Communications. He holds a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from BIT Mesra.

Today, Tessolve employs more than 3,800 engineers, operates across 12 countries through over 23 delivery centres and has emerged as the world’s largest independent semiconductor engineering services company. Its global footprint spans India, the US, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines and several other strategic semiconductor hubs.

The timing could hardly be better. The explosion of generative AI has fundamentally reshaped the semiconductor industry. As chip architectures become more advanced, semiconductor companies are increasingly looking beyond conventional outsourcing models. Instead of engaging multiple vendors for different stages of development, they are seeking engineering partners capable of supporting the complete product lifecycle. This shift has created a significant opportunity for companies possessing deep capabilities spanning design, validation, testing and manufacturing readiness.

Unlike conventional engineering service providers that largely focus on chip design, Tessolve differentiates itself through a comprehensive ‘spec-to-silicon’ platform. The company supports customers across every stage of semiconductor development – front-end design, back-end design, embedded systems, post-silicon validation, characterisation, reliability engineering, manufacturing test development and product qualification.

A strategic partner

Its capabilities extend across architecture definition, ASIC and system-on-chip (SoC) design, RTL development, functional verification, Design-for-Test (DFT), physical implementation, package engineering, embedded software and hardware, printed circuit board design, silicon validation, production test engineering and yield optimisation. The company also possesses deep expertise in post-silicon characterisation, reliability engineering and high-volume manufacturing support, enabling customers to move products from concept to commercial production under a single engineering umbrella.

This integrated approach has positioned Tessolve as a strategic engineering partner rather than merely an outsourcing vendor. Customers increasingly rely on the company to execute complete engineering programmes instead of isolated projects. A product company with only a chip concept can leverage Tessolve’s expertise to architect, design, validate and prepare the semiconductor for high-volume manufacturing.

“Our objective has always been to build a complete semiconductor engineering platform rather than a collection of individual services. Customers today want a partner who can own larger parts of the product lifecycle, helping them reduce complexity, accelerate time-to-market and improve product quality. That integrated capability is what differentiates Tessolve globally,” says Srinivas.

The company’s customer list reflects this positioning. Tessolve works with nearly all of the world’s leading semiconductor companies, alongside global technology firms developing proprietary chips for AI, cloud infrastructure and consumer electronics. Automotive manufacturers, industrial electronics companies and system developers also depend on the company for advanced semiconductor engineering capabilities.

The breadth of these engagements also distinguishes Tessolve from many engineering service providers. While several global engineering firms offer semiconductor design services, relatively few possess expertise spanning the entire engineering continuum: from architecture and silicon design to validation, testing, qualification and manufacturing engineering. This integrated model has become increasingly valuable as semiconductor companies seek to shorten development cycles while managing the growing complexity of advanced chip designs.

Competition in semiconductor engineering is intense, with global players such as Quest Global, Cyient, Tata Elxsi, LTTS and specialised international engineering firms serving various segments of the value chain. However, Tessolve has carved out a differentiated niche by combining deep semiconductor domain expertise with one of the industry’s most comprehensive engineering portfolios. Its ability to execute programmes across multiple technology nodes and application areas –from AI accelerators and automotive electronics to industrial automation and communications infrastructure – has enabled it to establish long-term relationships with some of the world’s largest chip companies.

As chip architectures become more advanced, engineering requirements have multiplied across verification, validation, packaging, testing and manufacturing. Consequently, semiconductor companies are increasingly outsourcing larger portions of their engineering programmes to specialist partners capable of reducing development cycles while maintaining quality and reliability. This structural shift is creating a long runway of growth for companies such as Tessolve.

AI is also reshaping Tessolve internally. Beyond designing chips that power AI applications, the company is embedding artificial intelligence across engineering, finance, HR and operational processes to improve productivity and accelerate product development. Rather than replacing engineers, AI is expected to augment engineering capabilities by automating repetitive tasks, improving design verification and enabling teams to manage increasingly sophisticated programmes.

“We view AI as a force multiplier for engineering talent rather than a replacement for it. Engineers will continue to make the critical design decisions, but AI will significantly enhance productivity, improve quality and allow us to deliver increasingly complex programmes faster than ever before,” says Srinivas.

One of Tessolve’s most significant strategic moves came in 2024 with the acquisition of Germany-based Dream Chip Technologies for approximately $45.87 million. Dream Chip brought over two decades of expertise in advanced system-on-chip (SoC) architecture and design, particularly across automotive electronics, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and data-centre applications.

The acquisition strengthened Tessolve’s ambition of becoming a complete semiconductor engineering platform capable of supporting customers from product architecture to manufacturing readiness. Since joining the group, Dream Chip has expanded beyond its traditional European customer base by leveraging Tessolve’s global sales network, while its engineering capabilities have been replicated across India.

Building capabilities

The company views acquisitions not merely as a means of adding scale but as an opportunity to deepen specialised engineering capabilities. Management has indicated that additional acquisitions are being evaluated globally in areas that complement Tessolve’s existing technology portfolio, particularly in emerging semiconductor technologies, advanced packaging and AI-driven chip development.

Talent remains the company’s biggest differentiator. Nearly 90 per cent of Tessolve’s workforce comprises engineers, predominantly from electronics and electrical engineering backgrounds. Recognising that university curricula often lag behind industry requirements, the company has invested heavily in training and capability development.

Over the years, Tessolve has trained more than 7,000 semiconductor engineers and established semiconductor laboratories in collaboration with universities. It also works closely with faculty members, equipping educators with industry knowledge so that students become more employable before entering the workforce. This long-term investment in talent has helped address one of the industry’s biggest challenges: the shortage of specialised semiconductor engineering skills.

The company is now expanding recruitment across both metropolitan centres and Tier-II cities while strengthening hiring in Germany, the United States and the Netherlands. As semiconductor companies diversify their engineering footprints globally, access to highly skilled talent is expected to become an increasingly important competitive advantage.

Tessolve’s growth also aligns closely with India’s semiconductor ambitions. The Government of India’s India Semiconductor Mission has catalysed investments in semiconductor fabrication, outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT), display manufacturing and compound semiconductors. While fabrication projects often attract the greatest public attention, semiconductor engineering remains the foundation upon which every successful chip programme is built.

Every semiconductor must undergo extensive architecture definition, design verification, silicon validation, characterisation, reliability qualification and production testing before reaching commercial deployment. These are precisely the capabilities Tessolve has spent more than two decades developing. As fabrication plants, assembly facilities and design centres become operational across India, demand for sophisticated engineering support is expected to increase significantly.

According to Srinivas, India’s semiconductor journey is finally approaching a defining inflection point. “We have been investing in semiconductor engineering for over two decades, well before semiconductors became a national priority. Today, government policy, private investment, AI-driven demand and global supply-chain diversification are converging to create an unprecedented opportunity for India. We believe the country can emerge as one of the world’s most important semiconductor engineering destinations,” he says.

As geopolitical realignments encourage countries to diversify semiconductor supply chains, and enterprises invest aggressively in AI infrastructure, demand for specialised semiconductor engineering is set to accelerate. Unlike many companies that are only now entering the semiconductor opportunity, Tessolve has spent more than two decades patiently building capabilities across the engineering value chain. That long-term commitment now places the company in an enviable position as customers increasingly seek trusted partners capable of delivering end-to-end engineering solutions.