Chipmaker Intel to work closely with India's AI mission; to focus on local supply chain creation

US-based chipset maker Intel is bullish about prospects for AI in India and aims to collaborate with partners in both the private and public sectors to establish the Artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, a top Intel India executive told Moneycontrol.

The executive also said enterprises looking to build AI infrastructure need not wait weeks to secure high-end GPUs and processors as the company can provide similar products much faster than its rivals.

“...we definitely are talking across the different stakeholders, whether it's the OEMs or government because there's clearly a compelling option that is available. Anybody interested in building infrastructure wants that level of performance at a lower cost and scale. We will be more than ready to go and help,” Santhosh Viswanathan, Vice President and Managing Director of the India Region at Intel told Moneycontrol.

Intel, he said, will work closely with the Indian government on its artificial intelligence (AI) mission. “It is not just singular architecture conversation, we absolutely want to participate very actively whether giving alternatives and giving the breadth of infrastructure.” 

Intel recently launched its new artificial intelligence chip, the Gaudi 3, to challenge Nvidia's dominance in AI semiconductors. It has commercial deals with Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Ola/Krutrim to deploy the Gaudi accelerator solutions in India

“...we want to play [in the AI segment]. Gaudi 3 was just announced and it is going to be on the market pretty soon where you see many of the OEM customers bring in. Several of them want to go try out the products as well. Gaudi gives you an option that gives you a similar level of performance at a much lower cost. So if you are struggling with a GPU due to supply or cost issues, there is an option to evaluate,” he said.

The executive added that the company’s focus is to make companies aware that existing Xeon deployments in the market can help to support their AI-related requirements.

“Our number one objective is to ensure the customer is aware. All AI workloads are not a singular workload, there is a breadth of different workloads and use cases. The second most important thing is to give customers the choice. We offer choices from an Xeon to a GPU to an accelerator to a device like an AI-PC. We want to make customers know their existing infrastructure can run the models,” he added.

Intel recently designated India as a separate geography, making it the fifth region for its business operations, led by Santhosh Vishwanathan. The company then highlighted the growing momentum and opportunities within its India business.

As per IDC, AI spending in India is set to undergo the swiftest expansion among the eight examined markets – Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan, with an estimated Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 31.5 percent from 2023, forecasted to reach a significant $5.1 billion by 2027.

The AI software sector will be the primary driver of overall market growth, reaching $2.6 billion by 2027, with AI infrastructure spending projected to hit $733 million by the same year, as per IDC estimates.

Intel is also working on creating a supply chain in the country by doing an OEM ecosystem enablement by way of partnerships. It is looking at India as a top manufacturing base for supplying laptops, data centres and servers.

Intel previously partnered with homegrown telecom gear maker VVDN Technologies to design, develop, and manufacture data centres, and IoT products for its customers. VVDN is making Intel products for verticals of telecom, networking, Cloud, and 5G.

Additionally, it announced a collaboration with eight Indian Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) companies and Original Design Manufacturers (ODMs) to accelerate laptop manufacturing in India.

“We intend to enable the ecosystem. We've done it everywhere. If you go into any ecosystem that exists in the world today, you've seen us play that role. We help these plates with reference designs and do the match-making with key vendors. We also help in designing the products and also help with go-to-market. In all three areas we would engage with the ODM or the manufacturing ecosystem,” Viswanathan said.

The executive said that Intel is enabling both local and multinational companies to build products in the country. “Whether it's the local customers or MNC customers, when they want to manufacture in India, we want to be the engine that supports them. There's a huge amount of value that we can bring in to go enable and make that happen,” he added.