Industry News | 9/3/2025
TPG Growth backs Tessolve with $150M to scale AI chip services
TPG Growth has committed $150 million to Tessolve Semiconductor, a Hero Electronix venture, to expand its global delivery centers, upgrade testing laboratories, and accelerate acquisitions. The funding underscores the rising value of semiconductor services as AI, data centers, and automotive applications push chip complexity higher, enabling Tessolve to broaden its full lifecycle offerings.
Tessolve secures $150M from TPG Growth to accelerate AI chip services
Tessolve Semiconductor, a Bengaluru-based engineering services provider, announced today that it has secured a $150 million funding round from TPG Growth, the growth equity platform of the global asset manager TPG. The deal signals a broader appetite from private markets for semiconductor services that support design, testing, and validation across a rapidly evolving AI chip ecosystem. While Tessolve has long been a partner to many fabless and integrated device players, the new capital is positioned to accelerate a multi-year plan to expand its footprint, labs, and acquisition strategy.
What’s in the deal
- Funding purpose: The capital will be used to broaden Tessolve’s global delivery centers, upgrade and add to its testing and embedded labs, and finance strategic acquisitions. The goal is to offer a more complete, end-to-end semiconductor lifecycle service to customers.
- Scale and reach: Tessolve, a Hero Electronix venture with operations across India, the United States, Europe, and Southeast Asia, employs more than 3,000 engineers. The investment enables further expansion of its 11 labs and labs that focus on testing and verification for high-performance chips.
- Strategic acquisitions: The deal reinforces Tessolve’s appetite for inorganic growth, enabling it to pursue acquisitions that complement its existing portfolio. The company highlighted its 2024 purchase of Dream Chip Technologies, a German design firm, as a precedent for how acquisitions can bolster its full-stack services.
The company has framed its growth strategy as a dual organic-inorganic trajectory, targeting lab expansion and the addition of capabilities that sit upstream and downstream in the semiconductor value chain. Srini Chinamilli, Co-Founder and CEO of Tessolve, emphasized the partnership with TPG as a catalyst for this strategy, noting that the funding would help accelerate both internal development and external collaborations. "We are excited to welcome TPG as a partner as we look to accelerate our next phase of organic and inorganic growth, strengthen our R&D efforts, and reach new heights," he said in a statement. [Source: Tessolve press disclosures]
Why this investment matters
- Industry context: The investment comes as the global semiconductor market exceeds half a trillion dollars, with services that support design, testing, and validation becoming a higher-value segment as chip complexity grows. The funding signals private equity’s willingness to bet on the enablement layer of the ecosystem, not just manufacturing. [Source: Market context references]
- India as a focal point: The deal foregrounds India’s rising role in the semiconductor value chain, with Tessolve positioned as a global-services provider that leverages Indian engineering talent to serve clients worldwide. Hero Electronix and its investors remain supportive, highlighting India’s potential as a hub for chip design and engineering services.
- Client base and scale: Tessolve’s client roster includes 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor firms, underscoring the company’s credibility in delivering engineering services at scale. The expansion is intended to reduce time-to-market for customer products and increase the efficiency of verification workflows.
Growth trajectory and leadership views
- Historical momentum: Founded in 2004, Tessolve has evolved from a dedicated test-lab into a comprehensive semiconductor engineering provider. Its revenue has grown from roughly $25 million in fiscal 2016 to over $150 million in fiscal 2025, reflecting both organic growth and successful acquisitions since Hero Electronix acquired the company in 2016. [Source: Tessolve historical data]
- Acquisition track record: The 2024 purchase of Dream Chip Technologies demonstrates the company’s strategy of building a full-stack capability—from chip architecture and design to testing, validation, and embedded systems. This track record supports Tessolve’s claim that the combined organic-plus-inorganic approach can unlock faster time-to-market and deeper technical expertise. Source: Dream Chip acquisition
- Leadership insights: Bhushan Bopardikar, a partner at TPG Growth, underscored the strategic value of Tessolve’s evolution, suggesting the investment signals confidence in the company’s ability to capture growing demand for engineering services. [Source: TPG Growth remarks]
Looking ahead
The investment’s size and strategic clarity suggest Tessolve will push ahead with expanded labs, new delivery centers, and targeted acquisitions. For AI developers and hyperscalers, the move promises a stronger partner for chip development, testing, and validation—an area that the industry increasingly identifies as a bottleneck for breakthroughs in AI accelerators. As chip designs become more complex and diverse, the role of specialized engineering services in reducing time-to-market becomes more critical, and Tessolve’s expansion could help many customers navigate that challenge.
The broader takeaway is a sign of intention within the semiconductor-services sector: growth capital is flowing toward firms that enable the ecosystem’s most important work—getting advanced chips from design to silicon more quickly and reliably. Tessolve’s journey, with TPG Growth as a partner, will be watched closely by peers, investors, and policymakers as the industry looks to build more resilient, globally distributed supply chains that can meet the AI era’s demands.
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