L&T Semiconductor Unveils Its First Silicon Carbide Chip Platform at SEMICON India 2026

18 September 2026National

L&T Semiconductor Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro, unveiled its first silicon carbide (SiC) product platform on 18 September 2026 at SEMICON India 2026. Silicon carbide is a wide-bandgap compound semiconductor that withstands higher voltages, temperatures and switching frequencies than conventional silicon, making it central to electric-vehicle powertrains, solar inverters and industrial power electronics. The launch adds indigenous chip-design capability to an Indian semiconductor push so far dominated by fabrication and packaging plants under the India Semiconductor Mission, whose second phase was approved in 2026. It came a day after TCS launched custom system-on-chip design services for automotive OEMs.

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The India Semiconductor Mission operates under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) | It was launched in 2021 under the Semicon India Programme | Larsen & Toubro is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra

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Bud Rot Outbreak Hits Coconut Palms in Tiptur Taluk of Karnataka's Tumakuru District

An outbreak of Bud Rot, a fatal coconut palm disease caused by the pathogen *Phytophthora palmivora*, has struck Tiptur taluk of Tumakuru district, Karnataka, affecting villages including Mattihalli, Hosahalli and Halkurike and parts of the Nonavinakere and Kasaba hoblis. The disease rots the terminal bud and surrounding tissue; once the growing point is destroyed the palm cannot recover and must be removed. Palms of all ages are susceptible, but young palms are the most vulnerable, and the infection spreads fastest in the high humidity of the monsoon. Tumakuru is one of Karnataka's biggest coconut-growing districts and Tiptur is a major copra trading centre.

GK ByteIndia is the world's largest coconut producer, with Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh the leading states | The Coconut Development Board was set up in 1981 and is headquartered at Kochi, Kerala | Phytophthora palmivora is an oomycete or water mould and also causes black pod disease in cocoa

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US Order Removing DeepSeek AI from Federal Civilian IT Systems Takes Effect on 20 October 2026

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GK ByteThe US Department of Homeland Security was created in 2002 after the 9/11 attacks and is headquartered at Washington, D.C. | The Federal Register is the official daily journal of the US federal government, and rules take legal effect on publication in it | DeepSeek is based at Hangzhou, China, and released its R1 model in January 2025

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GK ByteA white dwarf is the dense remnant of a low- or medium-mass star that has exhausted its nuclear fuel; it is roughly Earth-sized and is held up against collapse by electron degeneracy pressure | The Chandrasekhar limit, about 1.4 solar masses, is the maximum mass of a stable white dwarf | Sirius B, the companion of Sirius, was the first white dwarf to be identified

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Samsung Semiconductor India Research and IISc Inaugurate Quantum Research Lab in Bengaluru

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