INDIA: India is making rapid strides to advance artificial intelligence (AI) in their country, with the Indian government collaborating with researchers, start-ups, and companies to develop foundation models within ten months.
According to Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has approved 18 projects that will receive support—including computing power, data, and funding—to develop AI applications in agriculture and climate change. The announcement was made on Jan 30, as reported by Bloomberg.
“The foundational models made in India will be able to compete with the best of the best in the world,” Mr Vaishnaw said, adding that six major developers will complete foundation AI models by the end of the year.
He added that India plans to use more than 18,000 graphics processing units to establish computing power. Local company E2E Networks and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms are working to build this capacity using processors like Nvidia’s H100.
India expects companies to invest US$30 billion (S$40.7 billion) in data centres over the next few years, and the government will cover 40% of computing costs for the approved projects, Mr Vaishnaw noted.
India’s AI ambitions and global partnerships
As part of its $1.2 billion IndiaAI Mission, the government supports the development of both large and small language models. By investing in both, India aims to build a strong AI ecosystem for healthcare, finance, and governance industries.
The US tech giants Alphabet and Meta Platforms lead the open-source AI market, but China’s DeepSeek is emerging as a strong competitor. To enhance AI accessibility and innovation, India plans to host DeepSeek on local servers, strengthening its AI capabilities.
Meanwhile, OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has pledged to support AI application development under the IndiaAI Mission. With increasing investments and global partnerships, India is working to become a significant AI hub as it strives to compete globally.
Global race for AI dominance
India’s AI efforts come as China’s DeepSeek AI start-up has gained global attention for its rapid advancements. DeepSeek is positioning itself as a strong competitor to US industry leaders like OpenAI. DeepSeek’s progress shows the growing international race in AI development, with countries and companies striving to build more powerful and efficient models.
At the heart of this competition are foundation models, an AI system trained on vast datasets to perform various tasks. These models are designed to be highly adaptable, meaning they can be fine-tuned for specific applications across different industries, such as healthcare, finance, and language processing.
Unlike traditional AI models for narrow tasks, foundation models offer greater flexibility and enable researchers to customise them for various needs. Their ability to process and analyse massive amounts of information makes them an essential technology in the global AI landscape.
With AI advancements accelerating worldwide, India’s focus on developing its foundation models aims to position the country as a key player in the AI revolution, reduce reliance on foreign technology, and foster homegrown innovation.
Read also: US investigates if China’s ‘DeepSeek’ sourced Nvidia chips through Singapore intermediaries