AI Mission GPU tender bidders showcase their solutions to MeitY

January 14, 2025

AI Mission GPU tender bidders showcase their solutions to MeitY

The Rs 10,000-crore IndiaAI Mission, a flagship project by the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), is set to revolutionize AI infrastructure by deploying 10,000 GPUs to empower startups, researchers, and academicians. On Monday, 13 shortlisted bidders, including industry giants like Jio Platforms, Tata Communications, and NxtGen Datacenter, presented their GPU-based solutions during the technical evaluation phase. The project reserves Rs 4,563.63 crore—44% of the mission’s budget—for building AI compute capacity over five years.

The competition is fierce, with technical presentations carrying significant weight in the evaluation process. Bidders must meet a minimum score threshold of 70–75 marks for their commercial bids to be considered. Empaneled companies will offer compute-as-a-service at the price set by the lowest bidder (L1). However, there’s no guaranteed business commitment from MeitY, creating high stakes for participants who must install at least 1,000 GPUs within six months.

Several bidders showcased cutting-edge technologies, including NxtGen’s innovative diamond cooling system, which uses advanced thermal management to enhance GPU efficiency. CloudThat, an advanced-tier Amazon Web Services (AWS) partner, highlighted its plan to leverage 70% Nvidia H100 GPUs tailored for the project.

Bhavesh Goswami, founder and CEO of CloudThat, expressed confidence in his company’s proposal, emphasizing their strong AWS partnership and technical expertise. “Earlier today, we delivered our technical presentation, which was well-received. It was an experience to showcase our capabilities,” he noted.

This ambitious initiative aims to democratize AI compute and cloud services, accelerating India’s AI development. With commercial evaluations underway, the excitement around this project continues to grow.

Read the full story on Economic Times.