The Indian government is making significant strides in boosting the nation's artificial intelligence infrastructure through the IndiaAI Mission. In the second round of its GPU tender, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has received bids that could potentially offer 18,000 GPUs. This initiative is a crucial part of the ₹10,000-crore (US$1.25 billion) IndiaAI Mission, aimed at democratizing AI access and fostering innovation across various sectors.

Shortlisted Companies and Technical Presentations

For the second round of the graphics processing units (GPU) tender, seven companies have been shortlisted for technical evaluation. These firms include:

1. Netmagic IT Services (now known as NTT Global Data Centers & Cloud Infrastructure India, or NTT GDC India).
2. Cyfuture India.
3. Sify Digital Services.
4. Vensysco Technologies.
5. Locuz Enterprise Solutions.
6. Yotta Data Services.
7. Ishan Infotech.

These companies have been invited to present their technical proposals on May 14, 2025. MeitY anticipates procuring 15,000 GPUs through this round.

Partnerships and GPU Offerings

Several companies have formed strategic partnerships to strengthen their bids. Vensysco and Locuz have confirmed their collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Ishan Infotech is an Oracle partner, and NTT-Netmagic is a Google Cloud partner in India.

Specific GPU offerings from some companies include:

• Vensysco Technologies: Plans to offer 2,300 GPUs, comprising 2,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, 100 AWS Trainium 1 GPUs, and 200 AWS Inferentia 2 GPUs.
• Cyfuture India: Has placed purchase orders for 1,184 GPUs, including Nvidia H100, L40S, and A100 GPUs, as well as AMD's MI300 and MI325 GPUs, and Intel's Gaudi 2 and Gaudi 3 GPUs.

IndiaAI Mission: Objectives and Progress

Launched in March 2024, the IndiaAI Mission is a ₹10,371.92 crore (US$1.25 billion) initiative aimed at democratizing AI access across India. Approximately 44% of this budget, amounting to ₹4,563.63 crore, is allocated for establishing GPU-based computing infrastructure over the next five years. The mission seeks to provide AI compute resources to startups, researchers, students, academicians, and government departments, thereby fostering innovation and technological self-reliance.

The mission focuses on seven foundational pillars:

1. IndiaAI Compute
2. IndiaAIFutureSkills
3. IndiaAI Startup Financing
4. IndiaAI Innovation Centre
5. IndiaAI Datasets Platform
6. IndiaAI Applications Development Initiative
7. Safe & Trusted AI

In the first round of the GPU tender, empanelled bidders offered 14,517 GPUs at L1 rates against the initial target of 10,000 GPUs. The government hopes to add another 15,000 GPUs in the second round, potentially increasing the total number of GPUs in India to 33,000. The third round of the GPU tender is now open for accepting bids.

Broader Implications and Future Plans

This initiative is part of India's broader strategy to enhance its AI capabilities and become a global leader in AI. The government is also incentivizing the development of local language models and providing investment capital and other support to academia and industry.

The IndiaAI Mission is also focused on AI-driven skilling and innovation initiatives. The IndiaAI Innovation Centre launched a call for proposals in January, encouraging AI research and development. The Digital India Bhashini initiative is advancing AI-powered vernacular language accessibility, providing AI-driven language solutions in all 22 Scheduled Indian languages. IndiaAI also plans to set up Data and AI Labs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, further expanding opportunities for AI education and innovation across the country.