What exactly are GPUs, and what is their use?
GPU (Graphic Processing Units), as the name suggests, is basically a technology that can render graphics better. A more familiar related technology is the CPU, or central processing unit, which is the brain of a computer. A GPU is often called a computer's heart or soul. GPUs are an evolved form of CPUs for their capacity of parallel computing. While the CPU mostly tackles tasks one by one, the GPU can break a huge and complex task into thousands or millions of small parts and execute them at once. That's why a GPU has such humungous computing power
GPU is another kind of infrastructure, the infrastructure that boosts research, innovation and development in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data processing and management. the GPUs, or graphic processing units is an important thing for India. As we are getting more and more digital, it needs more computing infrastructure, and for that it needs cutting-edge computing hardware
The government has realised the importance of GPUs for India and is working to find a solution. It may strike a deal with Nvidia, the world's biggest GPU producer, to source graphics processing units (GPUs) from it, and offer them to local startups, researchers, academic institutions and other users at a subsidised rate under its Rs 10,000 crore Artificial Intelligence Mission, ET has reported based on information form sources.
Why India needs GPUs so much
India has turned digital at a mass level in the past decade. Due to explosive growth in digital payments due to the India stack, data revolution in telecom after Reliance Jio brought down tariffs, and government schemes that promote digital technologies, deeper penetration of internet, the launch of 5G services, growth of e-commerce, etc., India needs a bigger and more powerful digital hardware infrastructure, the GPUs, that is.
But even more importantly, India needs GPUs to spur innovation in emerging technologies such as AI. Startups, small innovators and businesses and academics can't afford to buy GPUs. India's computing infrastructure is less than 2 percent of global capacity which is a limiting factor in its contribution to research that remains in the range of 2 per cent, as per NVIDIA Asia South MD Vishal Dhupar. While speaking at StartUp Mahakumbh last month, Dhupar said, "India today is approximately sub-2 per as compared to the US and China combined which is closer to 58-59 per cent." He said India's contribution to research globally has a direct correlation with its low computing capacity. Indians abroad, Dhupar said, are contributing 12 percent because of the computing infrastructure available there.
India now has over 100 generative AI startups. But the investment into this sector has been comparatively small. The US saw nearly $250 billion private investments into AI startups between 2013 and 2022, while investments in India stood at just $8 billion. Over the same period, China saw $95 billion of investments while for the UK, the number stood at $18 billion, as per data from the AI Index 2023 Annual Report.
If India needs to be among the leaders in emerging technologies, it must acquire more computing power. Some of the top international companies who will be the big beneficiary in this GCU growth :
Key Point : AI Mission and sector is emerging as a new investment area for investors . Watch for it !!
Already, the government has approved the India AI Mission with an outlay of Rs 10,372 crore for five years to encourage AI development in the country. Under this mission, supercomputing capacity, comprising over 10,000 GPUs, will be made available to various stakeholders for creating an AI ecosystem.