India's Foundational AI Platform to Be Ready in 10 Months, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw

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India's Foundational AI Platform to Be Ready in 10 Months, Says Ashwini Vaishnaw
05 Feb 2025
5 min read

News Synopsis

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw stated that India is on track to launch its own foundational artificial intelligence (AI) platform within the next 10 months, while the development of an indigenous high-performance computing chipset (GPU) is expected to take approximately 3 to 5 years.

The minister made this statement on Tuesday during the Budget Roundtable 2025, an event organized by India Today & Business Today.

As part of the government’s AI strategy, Vaishnaw revealed that 18,000 high-end GPU-based computing facilities will soon be made available to entities across India.

These facilities will enable AI development at an accelerated pace. The initiative marks a significant step in India's journey toward self-reliance in the AI and semiconductor sectors.

Government’s Roadmap for India’s AI and GPU Development

India's Plan to Develop Indigenous GPUs

The Indian government is actively working on three different approaches to develop a domestic graphics processing unit (GPU), an essential component in AI and high-performance computing. The minister elaborated:

"We are working on multiple, actually three options, where we take a chipset which is at some reasonable level available in open source or available as a licensed thing, and then build upon that to build our own GPU. That's the approach the entire world has followed and that approach will be able to give us India's own GPU in the time frame of three to five years."

GPUs, which were initially developed for multimedia processing, gaming, and video rendering, have now become a fundamental part of AI and machine learning technologies. The demand for GPUs has skyrocketed worldwide, with US chip giant Nvidia currently holding over 80% of the market share. India's push to create its own GPUs is expected to challenge this dominance in the long run.

Launch of 18,000 High-End GPUs for AI Development

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw also highlighted India's efforts to expand AI infrastructure:

"We already embarked 18,000 GPUs, very high-end GPUs, and out of that, 10,000 are already available. So this 18,000 compute power will be rolled out in a couple of days. The tender process got completed last week, and in another couple of days, 3-4 days, this will be rolled out."

High-end computing infrastructure is crucial for AI model development. The government’s initiative ensures that Indian researchers, startups, academic institutions, IITs, and tech enterprises can access cutting-edge AI resources at an affordable cost.

"The researchers, startups, academicians, colleges, IITs, all of them can have access to this compute power, and they can start foundational models."

India’s First Foundational AI Model: Expected Within 10 Months

When asked about the timeline for India’s first AI foundational model, Vaishnaw confidently stated:

"10 months is the outer limit."

Indian startups and research institutions are actively studying advanced AI algorithms. Many of these studies are based on earlier research papers from 2003 and 2005, which have contributed to major breakthroughs in AI development. The minister pointed out how some international AI companies, like China's DeepSeek AI, have leveraged similar research papers to make AI more efficient.

"Many of our researchers and startups are also studying some of those papers. There are some papers of 2003 and 2005 which basically tell you how to do a lot of good engineering on the process."

Impact of Make in India: Growth in Electronics & AI

Vaishnaw also took the opportunity to defend the government's Make in India program against criticism from opposition leaders, particularly Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. He argued that from 1950-1990, India's license raj policies had stifled the country's manufacturing sector. However, the Make in India initiative has revitalized the industry, leading to significant job creation.

"We lost four decades from 1950 to 1990 where the entire manufacturing and production ecosystem was killed by the licensed permit raj. First opening happened in 1990. Then when (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji came, he also did a major opening. After that, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has opened up many sectors through his Make in India programme."

Under Make in India, the mobile phone manufacturing sector has become a major success story, generating 12 lakh direct and indirect jobs. Vaishnaw further highlighted the technological advancements achieved by Indian companies in the precision engineering sector.

One example he shared was an Indian company that took three years to master the high precision engineering required to supply components for Apple and Samsung smartphones.

India’s Role in the Global Tech Supply Chain

The minister also listed several electronic components that are now manufactured in India, including:

  • Chargers & battery packs

  • USB cables & keypads

  • Display assemblies

  • Camera modules

  • Lithium-ion cells

  • Speakers, microphones & vibrator motors

These advancements demonstrate India’s growing capabilities in the electronics and semiconductor industries.

Conclusion

India's ambitious AI and semiconductor initiatives, including the development of an indigenous foundational AI model and homegrown GPUs, signal a transformative shift in the country's technological capabilities. By rolling out 18,000 high-end GPUs and enabling affordable access to AI resources, the government aims to accelerate innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing.

With the Make in India program driving growth in manufacturing and tech infrastructure, India is steadily positioning itself as a global AI and semiconductor hub. The coming months will be crucial in determining the success of these initiatives, but one thing is clear—India is moving rapidly toward AI self-reliance and a stronger presence in the global tech ecosystem.