India aims to develop its own advanced GPUs within 3-5 years and launch a foundational AI platform in 10 months, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced at the Budget Roundtable 2025. The government plans to provide 18,000 high-end GPUs to researchers, startups, and institutions to foster AI development. Leveraging open-source and licensed chipsets, India seeks to create unique solutions for global competition. AI initiatives, like improving Indian Railways’ ticketing by 27%, highlight the nation’s commitment to affordable, cutting-edge technology and innovation.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has revealed that India is on the path to developing its advanced computing chipsets (GPUs) within three to five years, with ambitions to launch a foundational AI platform in just 10 months. This announcement was made during the Budget Roundtable 2025, an event organized by India Today and Business Today.
To drive AI development across the country, the government is set to provide 18,000 high-end GPU-based computing facilities. Vaishnaw highlighted that this initiative aims to make cutting-edge technology accessible to researchers, startups, academic institutions, and other entities. "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," he shared.
India’s GPU development strategy involves leveraging existing open-source or licensed chipsets as a foundation to create a uniquely Indian solution. Vaishnaw explained, "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, initially designed for multimedia applications such as gaming and video processing, have become critical due to the global surge in AI technologies. At present, Nvidia dominates the GPU market with over 80% market share. However, India is determined to carve its own space in this field.
Vaishnaw also highlighted how India is already leveraging AI for practical applications. For instance, Indian Railways has increased confirmed ticket rates by 27% using AI models. He pointed out that while many Indian startups have successfully built smaller AI models, the availability of affordable, high-end computing infrastructure remains essential for scaling these efforts.
"The researchers, startups, academicians, colleges, IITs, all of them can have access to this compute power, and they can start foundational models," he said, underscoring the government’s commitment to democratizing access to AI resources.
When asked about the timeline for India’s foundational AI model, Vaishnaw confidently stated, "10 months is the outer limit." He added that advancements in research papers and mathematical algorithms, similar to those used by Chinese AI company DeepSeek, have significantly streamlined the process.
This strategic push aligns with India’s vision of becoming a global leader in AI and advanced computing, fostering innovation and economic growth in the technology sector.
Comments