Anand Mahindra backs student-led chip innovation with ‘fail, fix, try again’ mantra

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has backed a hands-on approach to semiconductor education, encouraging students to experiment, make mistakes and build solutions themselves as India seeks to develop a stronger domestic chip ecosystem. His comments came as Mahindra University announced the launch of India’s second HackerFab, a student-led, open-source semiconductor fabrication facility. Following the initiative at IIT Bombay, the new facility is also the country’s first university-sponsored, student-led open-source semiconductor fabrication set-up.

Learning through failure

Mahindra, who is also Chancellor of Mahindra University, said innovation often begins with the willingness to dismantle, experiment and understand how things work.

“HackerFab gives students a license to do exactly that,” Mahindra said, encouraging them to “fail loudly, fix it, try again”. He said such freedom to experiment could help create a generation that is not afraid to build new technologies.

The philosophy behind the project is to move semiconductor education beyond classrooms and chip design software by allowing students to work directly with fabrication processes and equipment.

India’s second HackerFab

Mahindra University’s HackerFab follows India’s first student-built facility of its kind, established by students at IIT Bombay in August 2025.

The new facility will be led by students enrolled in the university’s B.Tech programme in VLSI Design & Technology. It is intended to provide practical experience in semiconductor fabrication while developing indigenous technical capabilities and talent for the sector.

Students will design and develop low-cost fabrication equipment that can be used for education and research.

Students to build equipment

Rather than merely operating commercially available machinery, students involved in HackerFab will work on building key pieces of semiconductor fabrication equipment themselves.

These include a maskless photolithography system, an RF sputtering chamber, a spin coater and a tube furnace. The approach is designed to give students first-hand exposure to processes involved in semiconductor manufacturing.

Mahindra University also plans to establish a cleanroom facility for teaching and research. Together, the cleanroom and HackerFab are expected to provide students with exposure to both semiconductor design and fabrication.

Vice-Chancellor Yajulu Medury said India’s semiconductor ambitions would require engineers who understand fabrication as well as design. The HackerFab model, he said, would allow students to build equipment, test ideas and understand fabrication processes in a laboratory environment.

Model began in US

The HackerFab concept originated at Carnegie Mellon University in 2023 as an open-source initiative within its Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The programme sought to make semiconductor microfabrication more accessible by developing relatively low-cost, student-built equipment instead of relying solely on expensive conventional fabrication infrastructure. The model has since been taken up by institutions in other countries.

Students at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay subsequently launched India's first student-built HackerFab in August 2025. They developed prototypes for systems used in processes such as maskless lithography, spin coating, sputtering and furnace operations.

Building chip talent

The initiative comes as India works to expand domestic semiconductor manufacturing and develop a larger pool of engineers with specialised chip-making skills.

Mahindra University has been expanding its semiconductor-focused academic programmes in recent years. It introduced an M.Tech in VLSI and Embedded Systems in 2023, followed by the B.Tech in VLSI Design & Technology in 2024.

The HackerFab initiative is intended to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and manufacturing experience by putting students directly in charge of building, testing and refining fabrication equipment.

For Mahindra, the larger objective is not simply to teach students how chips are made, but to encourage an engineering culture in which experimentation — including failure — becomes an integral part of innovation.