The Indian government is taking a significant step toward its ambitious India AI mission by inviting bids from entities capable of providing artificial intelligence services on the cloud. This move aligns with the Rs 10,372-crore India AI mission, which received cabinet approval earlier this year.
Empaneled Agencies to Power India’s AI Ecosystem
The empaneled agencies, which will include data centers and cloud service providers, will play a pivotal role in making high-speed computing AI infrastructure accessible to various stakeholders. These stakeholders include academia, startups, researchers, and government bodies, who will benefit from access to GPUs, accelerators, TPUs, and storage at the most competitive rates determined through the bidding process.
Supercomputing Capacity to Fuel AI Development
A core component of the IndiaAI Mission involves providing substantial supercomputing capacity, encompassing over 10,000 GPUs. This capacity will be made available to different stakeholders, fostering the growth of a robust AI ecosystem in the country. MeitY Additional Secretary Abhishek Singh has emphasized the importance of empaneling service providers to achieve this goal.
Addressing the Surge in Demand for GPU-Based Servers
The rapid global advancement of AI has triggered a surge in demand for GPU-based servers due to their superior data processing capabilities compared to CPU-based servers. However, the cost of accessing GPU-based cloud services in India is notably higher than in countries with extensive GPU installations.
Key Responsibilities of Empaneled Agencies
According to the bid document released by MeitY, the empaneled agencies will be entrusted with providing the high-performance computing, network, and storage services essential for executing the IndiaAI Mission’s planned activities. These activities encompass the development of indigenous large language models (LLMs) similar to ChatGPT and other AI applications.
Ensuring Transparent and Competitive Pricing
IndiaAI will play a crucial role in approving end-users who can utilize these cloud-based AI services. This approach ensures that the services are offered at prices determined through a fair and competitive process. The empaneled AI service providers will be engaged for an initial period of 36 months, with the possibility of extending the engagement based on mutually agreed terms.
Clarifying the Nature of the Invitation
The bid document explicitly states that the ‘Invitation for Application’ does not constitute a procurement agreement. Instead, it serves as an invitation to receive proposals from eligible and interested bidders. IndiaAI will facilitate payments for utilized AI services from approved projects to the empaneled service providers, to the extent of the approved subsidy.
Technical Requirements for Bidders
Agencies participating in the bidding process must demonstrate the capability to provide 1,000 AI compute units through their cloud service platform within six months of signing the agreement with IndiaAI. Each compute unit should possess a processing speed of at least 15 TFLOPS, a performance level primarily achievable by GPUs or Google’s TPUs.
Market Landscape and Bid Submission Deadline
Nvidia currently dominates the GPU market, holding an estimated 88 percent market share. MeitY has set September 6 as the last date for submitting bids.
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