India’s Technology Development Board signed an agreement to provide ₹130 crore in research, development and innovation support to Bengaluru-based BigEndian Semiconductors. The financing represents half of the ₹260 crore cost listed for Project VeerAI.

The project is developing a camera-focused artificial-intelligence system-on-chip for surveillance and other applications that require processing at the device level. Government support will be provided through optional convertible debt rather than described as a conventional grant.

The work is intended to move the technology from readiness level 5 to level 9 through development, validation, integration, testing and scale-up. That path spans the transition from an advanced prototype toward a system demonstrated for commercial use.

The agreement strengthens the project’s financing and development plan, but it does not establish that mass production has begun. Testing results, fabrication arrangements and customer deployment will determine whether the design reaches sustained commercial operation.