It might be a rather tiny piece in an ambitious mission but without a semiconductor chip, a satellite or any other communication device cannot transmit or receive data. Though developed Western countries have imposed complex restrictions on the supply of Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) chips to India, a Defence Research and Development Organization lab has, despite US sanctions, developed and supplied GaAs devices for military and space technology purposes. The R&D is now being further developed and delivered by Hyderabad-based DRDO facility Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology Centre (Gaetec) to the defence sector and to Indian Space Research Organisation for its space missions. Gaetec CEO Dr R Muralidharan told TOI that GaAs chips were being used in transmitters, receivers, amplifiers and switches for highly specialized communication applications.