What’s the story
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) in India, is preparing to release a tender for Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) procurement.
This initiative is part of the Indian government’s strategy to strengthen the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure.
The tender, expected within the next fortnight, follows a review meeting on ongoing projects conducted by MeitY.
GPU tender part of ₹10,732 crore mission
The GPU procurement is a component of the ₹10,732 crore IndiaAI Mission, a government initiative aimed at providing funding for GPU-based computing infrastructure.
The support will be extended either through a voucher system or directly to start-ups and researchers.
The forthcoming request for proposal (RFP) will outline the Centre’s initial GPU capacity requirements and deployment timeline.
Yotta Data Services: India’s sole AI GPU-equipped data center
Currently, Yotta Data Services is India’s sole data center equipped with AI GPUs. The upcoming RFP is expected to clarify whether data centers or cloud service providers based in other nations, can participate in the bidding process.
India to host second edition of Global AI Partnership
The MeitY has announced plans to host the second edition of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) from July 3-4.
The GPAI, which includes around 29 countries, aims to guide responsible development and usage of AI.
As the current lead chair, India has renamed this edition as the Global IndiaAI Summit, with a focus on fostering dialog on AI among Global South countries.
IndiaAI Mission invites nominations for projects
The MeitY recently launched the IndiaAI Mission by inviting nominations from 50 institutes, including IITs and NITs, for students undertaking projects in AI.
Selected B. Tech or M. Tech students from top 50 National Institutional Ranking Framework-ranked engineering colleges will receive fellowships for their AI projects.
For accepted B. Tech students, ₹1 lakh will be offered across three tranches, while M. Tech students will receive ₹2 lakh funding in four tranches of ₹50,000 each.