India’s IT minister on Thursday praised DeepSeek‘s progress and mentioned the nation will host the Chinese AI lab’s giant language fashions on home servers, in a uncommon opening for Chinese know-how in India.
“You have seen what DeepSeek has performed — $5.5 million and a really very highly effective mannequin,” IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw mentioned on Thursday, responding to criticism New Delhi has obtained for its personal funding in AI, which has been a lot lower than many different international locations.
Since 2020, India has banned greater than 300 apps and companies linked to China, together with TikTook and WeChat, citing nationwide safety issues. The approval to permit DeepSeek to be hosted in India seems contingent on the platform storing and processing all Indian customers’ knowledge domestically, consistent with India’s strict knowledge localization necessities.
“Data privateness points relating to DeepSeek could be addressed by internet hosting open-source fashions on Indian servers,” Vaishnaw mentioned at an business convention.
DeepSeek’s fashions will seemingly be hosted on India’s new AI Compute Facility. The facility is powered by 18,693 graphics processing items (GPUs), practically double its preliminary goal — nearly 13,000 of these are Nvidia H100 GPUs, and about 1,500 are Nvidia H200 GPUs. Around 10,000 GPUs are able to be deployed, and the ability is scheduled to start operations “within the coming days,” in accordance with the minister.
The facility can even supply computing companies at steep reductions to corporations in India. Vaishnaw mentioned customary AI computing could be supplied at a 42% low cost to market charges, and high-precision computing could be discounted by 47%.
The minister’s remarks come a day after DeepSeek’s eponymous app was taken off Apple’s and Google’s app shops in Italy, after that nation’s knowledge safety regulator mentioned it was asking how the Chinese agency was utilizing and storing Italians’ private knowledge.
The launch of DeepSeek’s R1 “reasoning” mannequin, constructed on a purportedly modest funds, despatched shockwaves by the tech business this week, inflicting chip big Nvidia’s market cap to say no by $600 billion. The mannequin has rapidly come beneath intense scrutiny, and has sparked heated debates round copyright points, U.S. export controls, and the way much more cash must be poured into AI efforts.
Beyond internet hosting overseas AI fashions, India can also be attempting to drive improvement of AI fashions and associated know-how by itself turf. “Major chip designers are prepared to work with India to develop indigenous GPUs,” Vaishnaw mentioned.
Vaishnaw estimated that India would see funding of $30 billion in hyperscalers and knowledge centres over the subsequent two to a few years. One of the nation’s greatest conglomerates, Reliance, is planning to construct what might turn out to be the world’s largest knowledge middle within the metropolis of Jamnagar, with a capability of three gigawatts, Bloomberg reported final week.
“We imagine there are at the very least six main builders who can develop AI fashions in six to eight months on the outer restrict, and 4 to 6 months on a extra optimistic estimate. A standard compute facility is an important element for creating a sturdy AI ecosystem,” Vaishnaw mentioned.
The computing facility can even assist India’s broader AI initiatives. Vaishnaw mentioned 18 AI-driven functions specializing in agriculture, local weather change, and studying disabilities have been chosen for preliminary funding.
To oversee improvement of those AI initiatives, India will set up a regulatory physique utilizing what Vaishnaw described as a “hub-and-spoke mannequin,” permitting a number of establishments to collaborate on security frameworks. “We shall be maintaining our fashions open and application-focused,” he mentioned.
