 "India to lead AI age, says Mukesh Ambani as Nvidia launches Hindi model")
India possesses immense raw talent, and over the years, the country has become a base for a diverse array of companies, with many energy giants driving their innovations in India, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday (October 24). This has positioned the country as a rapidly emerging innovation hub, the RIL chief added.
Ambani joined Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang for a fireside chat at the Nvidia AI Summit India, held at Mumbai's Jio World Convention Centre.
Responding to a question on how India could transform itself from an IT hub into a centre for AI, Ambani noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described India as a new aspirational nation, highlighting that it is the only country in the world where the average age is under 35. He added that these aspirations are driving the economy.
Ambani further remarked that, aside from the US and China, India has the best digital connectivity. He also pointed out that Jio has become the largest data company globally, with data volumes comparable to AT&T and Verizon combined. "We also have the necessary infrastructure. We are fortunate to have the connectivity infrastructure," Ambani said.
In response, Huang commented that the size of the Indian market offers a significant advantage.
Nvidia chief calls India IT hub, announces partnership with Reliance
At the summit, Huang remarked that India holds a crucial position in the global computer industry, describing it as central to the IT operations of almost every major company. He highlighted Nvidia's strong presence in the country and projected a 20-fold increase in compute capacities in India by the end of 2024.
“India is very, very dear to the world's computer industry, central to the IT industry, at the centre and core of the IT of just about every single company in the world,” he said.
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Huang also announced Nvidia's partnership with Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries to develop AI infrastructure in India.
Referring to the industry’s transformation, Huang called it a "seismic change" and pointed out that India, long known for its software exports, is on the path to becoming a leader in AI exports. He emphasised that while India has traditionally served as a back office for software production, the next wave will see it producing and delivering AI, which he said would have a much greater impact.
Mukesh Ambani sees ‘vidya’ in Nvidia
Ambani welcomed Huang and shared his interpretation of the name Nvidia. "My version of Nvidia is vidya, which means knowledge in India," he said.
Emphasising India’s aspirations to develop the best Hindi large language model (LLM), the RIL chief said, "We are determined to create the best LLM in Hindi. Our guiding principle is transforming the knowledge revolution into the intelligence revolution. We are on the threshold of the intelligence age."
Nvidia’s attempts to tap India’s AI chip market
On Thursday (October 24), Nvidia launched a lightweight artificial intelligence model designed for Hindi, one of India's most widely spoken languages, as part of its efforts to tap into the country’s growing demand for AI technologies.
The new small language model, named Nemotron-4-Mini-Hindi-4B, features 4 billion parameters and is aimed at helping companies build their own AI models, Nvidia said.
In a statement, the company explained that the model had been ‘pruned, distilled, and trained’ using a combination of real-world Hindi data, synthetic Hindi data, and an equal portion of English data.
Tech Mahindra is the first to use Nvidia’s model to create a custom AI system called Indus 2.0, which will focus on Hindi and its many dialects, Nvidia added.
Earlier this week, The Economic Times reported that Nvidia has proposed a partnership with India to develop a chip, seeking to leverage the country’s strong semiconductor design capabilities and tap into its expanding market.
AI chip discussions ongoing
Ashwini Vaishnaw, India's union minister for electronics and IT, confirmed these developments, stating that discussions with Nvidia regarding the development of an AI chip are ongoing, although still in the preliminary stages.
Huang made this proposal during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the US earlier this year. Nvidia, now the world’s second most valuable company, has seen its valuation soar due to the crucial role its graphics processing unit (GPU) chips play in the artificial intelligence (AI) boom currently reshaping the tech industry.
Potential partnerships between Nvidia and Indian companies
Nvidia announced its support for Tech Mahindra Ltd in creating a Hindi large language model, Bloomberg reported. Additionally, Nvidia will collaborate with e-commerce giant Flipkart to enhance its conversational customer-service systems. Nvidia also plans to work with Indian health-care companies to boost their productivity in patient care and research.
The tech giant, which began its operations in Bangalore two decades ago, now has development centres in three other Indian cities. With about 4,000 engineers employed across the country, India represents Nvidia’s largest employee base outside its home country.
TCS announces Nvidia business unit in India
Meanwhile, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest IT services provider, announced on Thursday the launch of a dedicated Nvidia business unit aimed at accelerating AI adoption across industries for its clients.
TCS stated that it has deepened its partnership with Nvidia to introduce industry-specific solutions designed to help customers integrate artificial intelligence (AI) more efficiently and at scale. These offerings will be managed by TCS' new business unit focused on Nvidia, which operates within its AI.Cloud division.
According to TCS, this new initiative builds on more than five years of collaboration with Nvidia, combining the strengths of both companies to deliver customised solutions for a range of industries.
About a year ago, Nvidia entered into agreements to develop AI data centres in collaboration with local conglomerates, including Reliance Group, led by Mukesh Ambani, and the Tata Group.
Reliance Jio’s foray into AI with JioBrain
At Reliance Industries’ 47th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in August, Mukesh Ambani announced that Reliance Jio is working on a suite of AI tools and applications called ‘JioBrain,’ which covers the entire AI lifecycle.
Ambani revealed that the company is setting up AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar, Gujarat, which will be powered by Reliance’s green energy initiatives. He added that JioBrain is being deployed across other Reliance operating companies to accelerate their AI transformations.
JioBrain integrates 5G’s high-speed, low-latency capabilities with machine learning technologies, including anomaly detection, predictive forecasting, and automation. The platform is designed to train and deploy machine learning (ML) models at both the network edge and the service provider cloud.
Ambani also highlighted that digital research is a major focus for Reliance, and the company has filed patents related to 6G, 5G, AI-Large Language Models, AI-Deep Learning, Big Data, and the Internet of Things, among other areas.
Nvidia’s rise amid AI boom
Last week, Nvidia’s stock hit a record high, bringing the company close to surpassing Apple as the world’s most valuable firm. This rise was driven by investor confidence in the growing demand for Nvidia's current and future AI processors.
The Santa Clara-based company, which briefly held the top spot in June, saw its market value surge to $3.39 trillion, putting it just behind Apple at $3.52 trillion, while overtaking Microsoft, which has a valuation of $3.12 trillion. For months, these three tech giants have been closely competing for the top position in terms of market capitalisation.
Nvidia’s success on Wall Street is largely attributed to its leadership in powering AI advancements, as companies like Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon continue to compete for dominance in the rapidly expanding AI landscape.