AAP MP Raghav Chadha shook up Rajya Sabha on Thursday by identifying GPU shortages as the linchpin challenge to India’s AI grand plans, trumping issues of finance or expertise.
Amid global supply disruptions and inflating costs, India’s data centers and AI training pipelines are in jeopardy. Chadha quantified the gap: 34,000 GPUs in hand versus the vast needs for state-of-the-art systems.
He urged the Science Ministry, via the presiding officer, to disclose plans, schedules, and diplomatic pushes for stable GPU procurement.
Minister Jitendra Singh nodded to the crisis’s breadth, affirming GPUs’ role as AI’s cornerstone. Under the India AI Mission, ‘Compute’ is prioritized, offering 40% discounted high-end facilities from select providers. Extra resources for large-scale 30B/65B models are being sourced externally.
Recent policy tweaks invite private funding, with a call for proposals launched just yesterday. ‘Vigilance and action define our stance,’ Singh declared, confident of attaining world-class AI readiness.
Chadha’s remarks catalyze a broader narrative: as AI permeates industries from education to defense, India’s compute deficit demands immediate, multifaceted remedies to safeguard its technological sovereignty.