AI mission crosses 34K GPU capacity, 3 new startups to help develop models

SEVEN COMPANIES WILL PROVIDE THE ADDITIONAL GPU CAPACITY AT SUBSIDISED RATES OF ₹67 PER HOUR

- Sejal Sharma

NEW DELHI: India has added 15,916 graphics processing units (GPUs) to its national artificial intelligence infrastructure while selecting three new startups to develop indigenous AI models, the government announced on Friday, accelerating efforts to build sovereign AI capabilities that developers can tap into.

According to Union minister for electronics and information technology (Meity) Ashwini Vaishnaw, who made the announcement at an event in Delhi, seven companies will provide the additional GPU capacity—which takes the total in the India AI compute portal to 34,333 units—at subsidised rates of ₹67 per hour, substantially below the average market rate of ₹115 per GPU hour.

"When we began the India AI mission, we had an initial target of 10,000 GPUs, which we at the time thought would be a lot," Vaishnaw said. "But we got a promising response from the industry."

The government has already empanelled 18,417 GPUs in the first tranche, with 14,000 units currently accessible through the India AI compute portal that became operational in March.