Rewa

Japanese chipmaker Rapidus was founded in August 2022, and by mid 2025, they had a 2nm process working on a pilot line. Worried by India’s lack of compute sovereignty, I asked a professor of mine why we couldn’t replicate this effort- he answered with one word - Talent. Japan has been working with semiconductors since basically the invention of the transistor- consequently they’ve developed individual and organisational knowhow and tacit knowledge on how to build this industry - this looks like individual engineers knowing how to optimise a dose matrix, identify lithographic defects, figure out which step led to a bad IV curve- but also organisations as a whole having the knowhow and discipline on how to make ultrapure chemicals, how to decontaminate a part and how to install and maintain equipment. To develop the talent you need the ecosystem that can train the knowhow, and to develop the ecosystem you need the talent- this is a chicken and egg problem. In August 2025, we started @hackerfabindia and have been building open source equipment to fabricate semiconductors. Simultaneously, @itsarnavb and @_lagrangepoint have been working on discovering and nurturing talent all over the country. Arnav and I sat down a couple of months ago, and brainstormed how we can solve this chicken and egg problem - and Junction is the fruit of that discussion. We will bring the best and brightest builders from colleges all over the country under one roof, and equip them with funding and mentorship from experts in academia and the industry. The idea is to get the hands-on knowledge, context and confidence by building small projects now- to go on to building big, frontier projects in the industry. We hope for Junction to spring up many chapters of HackerFab all over the country - centres which will mirror this ethos of learning by building- while being linked to India’s larger semiconductor mission. If India in 2026 can start building a pipeline producing the best semiconductor talent - it’s exciting to think about where that gets us 10-15 years from now. The journey from sand to superintelligence is driven by talent, and Junction is where talent comes together. The current in a PN junction diode takes off exponentially once the threshold voltage is crossed -- the journey for India’s Semiconductor Mission to cross its threshold is a challenging one. Join and help us catalyse it!