Government Finalizes Tender for 1,000 GPUs Under IndiaAI Mission

August 19, 2024

The Indian government is pushing forward with the IndiaAI Mission, aiming to build strong AI computing abilities. They have finalized a plan to buy 1,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), which are crucial for helping start-ups, researchers, and public agencies.

Main Goals of the IndiaAI Mission

The mission has a budget of ₹10,370 crore and plans to use more than 10,000 GPUs. The goal is to create AI models with over 100 billion parameters, tailored to work with major Indian languages, especially in areas like healthcare and agriculture. Those who win the contract must provide AI computing time right away: 100 hours immediately, 500 hours within two days, and more than 500 hours within a week. This setup will support the growing demand for AI by making computing resources easier to access.

Details of the Tender

The tender allows groups of companies to bid together, but at least one partner must have an annual income of over ₹100 crore. All bids must ensure that user data stays within India’s borders, following data localization rules. The project will use a public-private partnership model, where the government will cover 50% of the cost to make building the necessary infrastructure more affordable. About ₹4,564 crore will be used specifically for developing this computing infrastructure.

Impact on Start-ups and SMEs

This new computing capacity will make AI resources more available to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups, which often find these resources too expensive and hard to get. This move aims to boost innovation and competitiveness in India’s tech sector.

What is AI Computing Capacity?

AI computing power has grown rapidly, with GPUs and TPUs leading the way. For example, in 2021, the world’s largest AI model, OpenAI’s GPT-3, had 175 billion parameters. Training AI models can use up a lot of electricity, but improvements in AI algorithms are making them more efficient. Supercomputers like Fugaku are often used to train AI models, and future advancements like quantum computing could further increase AI’s speed and efficiency.

About the IndiaAI Mission

Launched in 2020, the IndiaAI Mission aims to enhance AI research and innovation, focusing on ethical AI use and collaboration. India is currently third in the world for AI research output. The mission supports start-ups with funding and resources and has established the National AI Portal as a central knowledge hub. It promotes AI in sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and education and works with global groups like the Global Partnership on AI. The mission also aims to train over 1 million AI experts by 2025, boosting the skills of the workforce.

What is Graphics Processing Units (GPUs)?

GPUs were first developed in the late 1990s and revolutionized how images are rendered on screens. NVIDIA’s GeForce 256 is considered the first true GPU. While GPUs are widely known for gaming, they are also vital in AI, cryptocurrency mining, and scientific research. Unlike CPUs, which have fewer cores, GPUs have thousands, allowing them to process many tasks at once. NVIDIA’s CUDA programming model helps developers use GPUs for various tasks. AMD’s Radeon was the first to support Direct3D 11. The term “GPU” was coined by NVIDIA in 1999, highlighting its key role in modern computing.

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