Mumbai: Nvidia Corp has struck a deal with billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s conglomerate Reliance Industries to build out an artificial intelligence (AI) computing infrastructure as well as an innovation centre in India, the AI chip giant’s CEO Jensen Huang said on Thursday.
A new major data centre by Reliance Industries will use the latest Nvidia’s Blackwell AI chips.
The diversified Indian conglomerate will be creating applications as part of the partnership and selling it to consumers, said Huang, who is on a two-day visit to the financial capital.
Nvidia already has a presence in six locations across India. The US firm works with enterprises, cloud providers and startups to build AI infrastructure powered by Nvidia’s accelerated computing stack comprising tens of thousands of its most advanced GPUs, high-performance networking, and AI software platforms and tools.
At the Nvidia AI Summit 2024 here, Ambani and Huang had a fireside chat to discuss India’s transformative potential in AI and its emerging role as a global leader in this field.
The partnership between Reliance and Nvidia aims to build a robust AI infrastructure in the country, which Ambani believes will not only enhance local capabilities but also position India as a significant player in the global intelligence market.
“India will start with the absolutely best that Nvidia has,” Ambani said.
Huang, during a press conference, told reporters here that the partnership also includes creating applications that Reliance could offer to consumers in India.
“We will also have an innovation centre as part of the tie-up,” he said.
Without giving details on the partnership, like investments or the infrastructure capacities to be created, Huang said the partnership entails a “fairly large scale” deployment of infrastructure for AI computing.
“India is already world class in designing chips, Nvidia’s are designed here in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune. A third of Nvidia is Indian, may be more,” Huang said.
During the fireside chat, Ambani said India is on the brink of a new intelligence age and will surprise the world with its achievements in intelligence technology over the coming years.
New technologies like AI and the aspirations of people are driving the Indian economy, he said.
“We are at the doorsteps of the new intelligence age. India will be one of the biggest intelligence markets. It’s not just our aspiration, but also the raw gene power which will help drive intelligence.
“India will not just deliver CEOs to world, but also AI services,” Ambani asserted.
Ambani also pitched for using Meta’s open source Lama as the base model in India before the country develops its own model.
Announcing that India will start with the “absolutely best” that Nvidia has, Ambani said RIL is setting up a 1GW capacity in Jamnagar which can be expanded further as well.
He noted that apart from the United States and China, India boasts one of the best digital connectivity infrastructures, with extensive networks of 4G, 5G, and broadband services.
He said Reliance Jio is the largest data company globally, pointing out that it delivers data at a low cost of 15 cents per GB, compared to USD 5 per GB in the US.
“Like we did with data, in few years from now we can surprise the world with what Indians can achieve in intelligence,” he said.
Meanwhile, the visiting CEO of the world’s second most valuable company suggested India — which has for long been a software services developing powerhouse — to transform itself into a AI-exporting geography using the same talent that has made it the world’s IT back office.
“you have the critical ingredients here in your country to be able to harvest the raw data, transform it into intelligence. You can code it into a model and manufacture your own digital intelligence and export that,” Huang told reporters.
Huang, who is widely credited for seeing the future and pivoting his company to take advantage of the AI revolution, stressed on India doing this urgently given the capabilities it has and added that he can’t wait to see India manufacture “AI at scale”.
He seemed to advise Indian companies to prioritise AI over chip manufacturing as well, which has seen some activity with investments announced lately.
“Before you follow other countries into manufacturing, India should jump into this future AI factory. …there’s a new manufacturing industry, don’t wait to jump into this one. Don’t enter this 20 years later. Enter this one at ground zero,” Huang said.
Huang said a third of Nvidia’s employee base is in India, which includes engineering teams in Pune, Gurugram and Hyderabad, helping company-wide efforts at chip design, pointing that India is already home to a lot of intellectual capital.
Recalling a meeting with Narendra Modi, Huang said the Indian Prime Minister told him that India shouldn’t export data and import intelligence in return which is akin to exporting flour to import bread.
Huang said there is a need for putting up the energy-guzzling data centres not in or near Mumbai — which is home to over 40 per cent of India’s capacity — but in places where there is excess energy.
The CEO also said that during a visit six years ago, Modi had asked Huang to speak on AI to his cabinet colleagues on AI which was rare for a world leader.
Huang said deepening broadband services can help India up the gaming consumption.
Speaking at the Summit, the Nvidia CEO also said India will see 20 times growth in computing capacities in 2024 and the country will soon be exporting impactful AI solutions.
Huang further emphasised Nvidia’s commitment to expanding its ecosystem in India.
“India is very, very dear to the world’s computer industry, central to the IT industry, at the centre and core of the IT of just about every single company in the world.
“Nvidia’s ecosystem in India is very rich; 2024 will see a a 20 times growth in compute capacities in India,” he said.
