Reliance Industries, Tata group partner Nvidia for India AI infrastructure

The battle to dominate the artificial intelligence (AI) space seems to be intensifying, with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and the Tata group, two of the largest conglomerates in India, entering into separate partnerships with US technology giant Nvidia to build AI supercomputers.
 

Jio Platforms, RIL’s digital services arm, announced a partnership with Nvidia on Friday to build a state-of-the-art cloud-based AI computing infrastructure. Nvidia will provide Jio with end-to-end AI supercomputer technologies and frameworks for building the most advanced AI models, Jio said in a statement.
 

Nvidia is also tying up with the Tata group to deliver AI computing infrastructure and platforms for developing AI solutions.

The collaboration aims to bring advanced AI capabilities within reach of thousands of organisations, businesses, AI researchers, and startups in India, the US firm said. 

The new infrastructure will greatly speed up a wide range of India’s key initiatives and AI projects, including AI chatbots, drug discovery, climate research, and more, Jio Platforms said in its statement. As part of the collaboration, Jio will manage and maintain the AI cloud infrastructure and oversee customer engagement and access.
 

“As India advances from a country of data proliferation to creating technology infrastructure for widespread and accelerated growth, computing and technology super centres like the one we envisage with Nvidia will provide the catalytic growth just like Jio did to our nation’s digital march,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of RIL, said.
 

The AI infrastructure will be hosted in AI-ready computing data centres that will eventually expand to 2,000 MW.

Jio’s tie-up with Nvidia comes against the backdrop of media reports that RIL is exploring a foray into semiconductor manufacturing. According to a Reuters report, the group has held early-stage talks with foreign chipmakers.

Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia, said, “India has scale, data, and talent. With the most advanced AI computing infrastructure, Reliance can build its own large language models that power generative AI applications made in India, for the people of India.”

TCS to upskill 600,000 staffers in AI
 

On the partnership with the Tata group, Nvidia said in its release that the companies would work together to build an AI supercomputer powered by the next-generation NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip.

Tata Communications’ robust global network combined with the AI cloud will empower enterprises to transfer data across the AI cloud at high speeds.

TCS will utilise the AI infrastructure and capabilities to build and process generative AI applications. The Nvidia partnership will further enable TCS in upskilling its 600,000-strong workforce in AI skills, the release said.

“Our partnership with Nvidia will democratise access to AI infrastructure, accelerate build-out of AI solutions and enable upgradation of AI talent at scale. Tata Group’s presence across sectors coupled with Nvidia’s deep capabilities offers numerous opportunities for collaboration to advance India’s AI ambition,” N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, said.