India Gets Cracking on AI Chip, Plans Rollout by '27

Chip work to leverage C-Dac's skills; move reflects concerns over access to chips

- Shouvik Das

India has taken the first step to develop an AI chip from the ground-up to substitute Nvidia's powerful processors, which have shaken up the global tech landscape and re-established the US's outsized dominance in the crucial sector.

Work on developing the framework for the chip to power artificial intelligence systems is underway, and an official announcement is expected later this year, said three senior officials aware of the development. The government has set a tentative timeline of 2027 to make the chips at a domestic chip fabrication plant, they said on the condition of anonymity.

The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) has partnered with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-Dac) and the National e-Governance Division to design the chip from the ground-up, the officials said.

The chip will leverage C-Dac's expertise in building processors based on the open-source 'RISC-V' (reduced instruction source computer) core architecture, they said. It is a set of openly accessible standards, which can be used by any party to build its own processor's core architecture.

India's quest to develop its own proprietary AI chip, crucial for running generative AI models that made tools such as ChatGPT possible, reflects concerns about lack of access to technology that will shape the future. According to a report by Gartner, over 70% of the world's semiconductor revenue was earned by the US last year, giving it disproportionate power to control semiconductors that will power everything from appliances and cars to spacecraft.

Emails seeking responses from Meity and C-Dac did not receive responses until press time.