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Mahindra University has launched HackerFab, India’s second student-led open-source semiconductor fabrication facility, following IIT Bombay’s HackerFab. It is the first university-sponsored, student-led facility of its kind in the country.
Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group and Chancellor, Mahindra University, said students should be encouraged to experiment, fail, and build solutions themselves, calling HackerFab a way to let students take things apart and learn by doing without needing permission.
The initiative aims to give students hands-on experience in semiconductor fabrication to help build technical skills for India’s domestic semiconductor sector. It is led by students from the university’s B.Tech in VLSI Design & Technology programme and will focus on developing low-cost fabrication equipment for education and research.
Students will work on core semiconductor fabrication equipment, including a maskless photolithography system, RF sputtering chamber, spin coater, and tube furnace. The university said the hands-on model allows students to work on fabrication rather than limiting learning to chip design. The initiative will also support the university’s plans to set up a cleanroom facility for teaching and research.
HackerFab originated in 2023 at Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as an open-source initiative to make semiconductor microfabrication accessible through low-cost, student-built equipment. It has since been adopted by institutions in India and abroad. IIT Bombay started India’s first student-built HackerFab in August 2025 and has developed prototype equipment for maskless lithography, spin coating, sputtering, and furnace operations.
The university said the focus is on developing engineers with both technical knowledge and practical experience as India works to build domestic semiconductor capabilities.
This article was originally
published by the 
