International Desk

Reliance Industries and Nvidia have announced a partnership aimed at building large-scale AI infrastructure in India, a move that could significantly advance the country’s artificial intelligence capabilities.

The collaboration, revealed during a fireside chat at the Nvidia AI Summit 2024 in Mumbai, involves Reliance utilising Nvidia's latest GB 200 supercomputer technology.

During the discussion, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani highlighted the scale of the project, explaining that Reliance would begin by constructing infrastructure for 1 GW, which could later be expanded at a single location.

He also stressed the importance of making AI accessible to the masses, much like how Reliance’s telecom arm Jio revolutionised mobile data costs in India.

"We are building infrastructure for 1 GW, expandable to more, at one location. Our aim is to make AI as affordable and accessible as Jio did for mobile data," Ambani remarked. Reliance's Jio network, which offers data at 15 cents per gigabyte, has driven down costs significantly compared to the global average of $3.5.

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, underscored India’s unique position in the AI landscape, citing its vast IT talent, enormous digital data sets, and a substantial user base that can serve as a catalyst for an "AI flywheel."

With over 10,000 engineers already working in India, Nvidia views this partnership as pivotal for building India’s indigenous AI capabilities.

The project also aligns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of AI self-reliance for India. Huang recalled a past conversation with the Prime Minister where Modi emphasised the importance of India not merely exporting data but also creating value by developing its own AI.

“Modi ji said, India should not just export flour to import bread. We should add value to the data ourselves,” Huang recounted.

Both Ambani and Huang also discussed the potential of open-source AI models, such as Meta’s Llama, in advancing AI development. Ambani suggested that Indian developers could build on Llama to create advanced Indian language models in the future.

The partnership is a significant milestone in India's AI journey, combining Nvidia's state-of-the-art technology with Reliance's execution and infrastructure expertise.

Source: With inputs from news wires