SAMEER was set up as an autonomous R & D laboratory at Mumbai under the then Department of Electronics, Government of India with a broad mandate to undertake R & D work in the areas of Microwave Engineering and Electromagnetic Engineering Technology. It is an offshoot of the special microwave products unit (SMPU) set up in 1977 at the TATA INSTITUTE OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH (TIFR), Mumbai. SAMEER, Mumbai was setup in 1984.

Centre for High Power Microwave Tube and Component Technology (CHMTCT) of SAMEER, located in IIT Guwahati Campus, Assam, was established in 2015. SAMEER-CHMTCT is dedicated on the area of conventional high power microwave tube/component as well as futuristic tube such as high power mm wave and THz sources. The centre is a research and development laboratory in which scientists of the centre along with M. Tech. / Ph.D. students and faculty members of IIT Guwahati are involved in R & D activities in the area of high power microwave tube/component, including conventional as well as futuristic microwave tube. The aim of centre is also to develop manpower working in the area of high power microwave tube/component by proper training.