‘Toxic for innovation…’: Semiconductor expert picks China over India, slams ‘race to the bottom’ culture

Karan Mehta, a Semiconductor Laser Design Engineer specializing in integrated photonics, has announced the closure of his company in India, citing deep-rooted problems in the country’s research ecosystem.

In a forthright LinkedIn post, Mehta said he will disengage from all integrated photonics projects in India and explore opportunities in East Asia, particularly China, where he sees “incredibly exciting work” and “the right collaborative environments.”

“The field of integrated photonics is hard enough without having to deal with the countless cultural and personality-related problems associated with doing cutting-edge R&D in India,” he wrote. “I want to be in a place where the system supports the work, instead of me having to fight the system and trying to push the engineering envelope at the same time.”

Mehta, who holds a PhD from Georgia Tech and has worked with Intel corporation, underscored that world-class research hinges on “people and culture,” which he finds lacking in India at the required standards. He pointed to the high-trust, interdisciplinary collaboration needed across lasers, modulators, photodetectors, fabrication, crystal growth, testing, and systems integration — something he says is missing in India’s fragmented academic ecosystem.

According to him, after over 15 years of investment in silicon photonics, Indian universities still operate in silos, producing only basic devices like gratings and filters, while advanced system-level innovation demands openness and cross-disciplinary teamwork.

He further alleged “corruption and insecurity in Indian academia,” where entrenched senior faculty block younger talent despite having “produced no useful results.”

Staying in India, Mehta concluded, would mean “participating in a race to the bottom” and risking obsolescence. “If I ever want to do cutting-edge R&D again, I need to leave India while my skills and CV are still relevant and attractive,” he said.