Alarm bells for India’s AI dreams? Outgoing Biden admin announces new GPU cap restricting advanced AI chips’ access

Graphics processing units

The outgoing Joe Biden administration recently introduced a rule that may impact AI frameworks in many countries, including India. According to a report by the Economic Times, on January 13, the Biden administration proposed a rule that would impose curbs on graphic processing units (GPUs).

Any restriction on access to these units, which are key for operating heavy AI applications and models, will directly impact the growth of AI development in countries such as India. The ET report mentioned that GPU restrictions would result in severe delays and increase the licensing costs for AI-driven operations.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Business Standard, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that “We are consulting with the industry for developing a GPU, and our endeavour is to support such a move. We have discussed this with C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing).”

This policy, which came into effect from the day of the issuance itself, will now increase the compliance issues, experts cited by the ET said. The report further said that as of now, the consumption of artificial intelligence is well within the limit in India.

The latest US regulation divides the world into three groups, the ET report said. One group includes 23 nations, such as Russia, China, and North Korea, which will have no access to US GPUs. For the rest of the world, including India, there will be nation-specific restrictions. According to the report, the limit for India is set at 50,000 advanced graphics processing units.