India Targets 2026 for Its First Domestic AI Chip Development

[Nomad76]

Ola, an Indian automotive company, is venturing into AI chip development with its artificial intelligence branch, Krutrim, planning to launch India's first domestically designed AI chip by 2026. The company is leveraging ARM architecture for this initiative. CEO Bhavish Aggarwal emphasizes the importance of India developing its own AI technology rather than relying on external sources.

While detailed specifications are limited, Ola claims these chips will offer competitive performance and efficiency. For manufacturing, the company plans to partner with a global tier I or II foundry, possibly TSMC or Samsung. "We are still exploring foundries, we will go with a global tier I or II foundry. Taiwan is a global leader, and so is Korea. I visited Taiwan a couple of months back and the ecosystem is keen on partnering with India," Aggarwal said.





Ola has announced several AI chips for various applications:

• Bodhi-1: A mid-range chip for large language models and inferencing, set for 2026 release.
• Bodhi-2: A more advanced chip for high-end AI workloads, aimed at exa-scale computing, planned for 2028.
• Ojas: India's first edge AI chip, likely to be used in Ola's future electric vehicles.
• Sarv-1: A cloud-native CPU for cloud computing applications, potentially featuring ARM Neoverse N3 cores.

Ola recently announced strategic partnerships with Arm and Canadian Untether AI to build the chips.

"Our goal is to push the boundaries of AI chip performance by 2028. This is a bold and ambitious project, but we are committed to delivering our first AI chip for India by 2026", CEO Bhavish Aggarwal stated.

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[thesmokingman]

Been saying, Nvidia only has 2-3 years with a captive market left.

 

[Kasy21]

since when is India of all countries in the semiconductor industry

 

[Thimblewad]

Been saying, Nvidia only has 2-3 years with a captive market left.

Optimistic prediction

 

[Patriot]

since when is India of all countries in the semiconductor industry

They arent thats a hecking AI generated image... look at the "so-dimm" and dimm slots like wtf...

 

[Jism]

since when is India of all countries in the semiconductor industry

Never heard of Raja Koduri?

 

[Prima.Vera]

And that's why by the end of the year, India will surpass Japan as the 4th Economy of the world.

Japan is still sleeping for the past 30 years. No more innovations on semiconductors, AI, display technologies, etc
No wonder if they are still using faxes, ISDN lines and floppy disks until July this year:

Japan's government finally says goodbye to floppy disks

The use of the floppy disk, which was still used in some government agencies in Japan, has now been scrapped.

www.bbc.com

 

[thesmokingman]

Optimistic prediction

Time frame can be off obviously, but the biggest players have already moved or are moving to dedicated chips, ie. Google, Tesla, and now Open AI. And now we see the most distant of players even moving to dedicated hardware. The writing is on the wall.

Also you can see Jensen pivoting to making ancillary chips and supporting hardware for the eventual humanoid robot takeover, which is kind of hilarious in itself. He knows where the next wave is going, too bad he's backing the wrong horse though he knows he can't get in with the big boy in this area.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Looks like another attempt to extort money from the government. Happens almost anywhere... not skin color dependent

 

[kondamin]

Why arm, if they are going to dump a boat load of money in to an obvious cash grab why not do it while making the world better and working on risc v so at least something positive will have come out of it at the end of the ride.

 

[Kasy21]

Never heard of Raja Koduri?

I mean he is just one guy, but I was refering to the country as a whole, maybe they have or had very good matematicians but they do not have the infrastructure to even make the desing part let alon produle semiconductors.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Never heard of Raja Koduri?

Raja's an engineer, but india is a country. Historically india is not a major chipmaker and to my knowledge doesnt even have their own fab space at the moment. For an indian company to produce competitive AI chips domestically is a radical shift.

These comments are just. . . how is this even allowed?

These comments are fine. Literally nothing written is offensive or mean spirited. Since this isnt Reset era, you may not be used to seeing users communicate, but this is normal in the real world, I assure you.

I'm more curious; could you actually articulate which comments are bad, and why?

Why arm, if they are going to dump a boat load of money in to an obvious cash grab why not do it while making the world better and working on risc v so at least something positive will have come out of it at the end of the ride.

Because ARM already has pre developed infrastructure. RISC V is the wild west, and you need a lot of experience to develop that. India doesnt have experience, so sticking to already present environments makes more sense.

 

[JasBC]

These comments are fine. Literally nothing written is offensive or mean spirited. Since this isnt Reset era, you may not be used to seeing users communicate, but this is normal in the real world, I assure you.

I'm more curious; could you actually articulate which comments are bad, and why?

What do you mean "nothing written is offensive or mean spirited"? Literally second comment is increduality over the fact that India can design their own chips, when Indian high-tech ventures like domestic spaceflight has resulted in them being one of the only countries on Earth able to accomplish it independently, while initiatives from universities into processor design, specifically ARM and RISC-V, are well known.

Then there is a comment calling the image presented as being AI-generated, which is just complete bunk.

Then a comment calling it a scam, based on nothing but it being an Indian project, with a disclaimer that it "happens regardless of skin colour".

When else do we see these sorts of comments? When the talking point is about something Chinese. We never see this kind of shit when it's about something from the US, Japan or Europe. There is a pattern of negativity and hostility in TPU-comments towards projects not from the "West" that is incredibly idiotic and tiresome.

 

[Vayra86]

What do you mean "nothing written is offensive or mean spirited"? Literally second comment is increduality over the fact that India can design their own chips, when Indian high-tech ventures like domestic spaceflight has resulted in them being one of the only countries on Earth able to accomplish it independently, while initiatives from universities into processor design, specifically ARM and RISC-V, are well known.

Then there is a comment calling the image presented as being AI-generated, which is just complete bunk.

Then a comment calling it a scam, based on nothing but it being an Indian project, with a disclaimer that it "happens regardless of skin colour".

When else do we see these sorts of comments? When the talking point is about something Chinese. We never see this kind of shit when it's about something from the US, Japan or Europe. There is a pattern of negativity and hostility in TPU-comments towards projects not from the "West" that is incredibly idiotic and tiresome.

So, teach. There's stupidity everywhere, its not unique to TPU There are humans everywhere.

 

[kondamin]

What do you mean "nothing written is offensive or mean spirited"? Literally second comment is increduality over the fact that India can design their own chips, when Indian high-tech ventures like domestic spaceflight has resulted in them being one of the only countries on Earth able to accomplish it independently, while initiatives from universities into processor design, specifically ARM and RISC-V, are well known.

Then there is a comment calling the image presented as being AI-generated, which is just complete bunk.

Then a comment calling it a scam, based on nothing but it being an Indian project, with a disclaimer that it "happens regardless of skin colour".

When else do we see these sorts of comments? When the talking point is about something Chinese. We never see this kind of shit when it's about something from the US, Japan or Europe. There is a pattern of negativity and hostility in TPU-comments towards projects not from the "West" that is incredibly idiotic and tiresome.

Just 2 days ago I was talking down on softbanks AI initiative... as they were stopping their cooperation with intel in favour of tsmc...

I believe the sentiment is not against India it's against the current state of AI which is a very big very empty bubble.
And the people looking to make a quick buck not by doing something constructive for the industry but by just fooling investors out of their money with outrageous promises like products by 2026.
Giant IT corporations have been dumping billions in AI for years and still have nothing to show for it and now some taxi company is going to make a domestic Indian AI chip in a bit over a year???

This isn't Modi announcing a new government initiative for IITB and IITM where they get extra funding to make it happen in a decade, it's a taxi service company.
it's the same as Dunkin doughnuts starting a space initiative claiming it will have manned flights to mars in 2026

 

[RandallFlagg]

And that's why by the end of the year, India will surpass Japan as the 4th Economy of the world.

Japan is still sleeping for the past 30 years. No more innovations on semiconductors, AI, display technologies, etc
No wonder if they are still using faxes, ISDN lines and floppy disks until July this year:

Japan's government finally says goodbye to floppy disks

The use of the floppy disk, which was still used in some government agencies in Japan, has now been scrapped.

www.bbc.com

This isn't the win it sounds like. India has 1.4B people, Japan 0.123B, literally 1/11th the population. The per capita GDP reflects that as well. Japan has infrastructure and living standards that most Indians can only dream of.

Much of the reason that industry hasn't moved to India is that basic services are sparse and unreliable - like electricity, reasonably maintained roads, clean water, and sanitation (sewage) services.

 

[Patriot]

What do you mean "nothing written is offensive or mean spirited"? Literally second comment is increduality over the fact that India can design their own chips, when Indian high-tech ventures like domestic spaceflight has resulted in them being one of the only countries on Earth able to accomplish it independently, while initiatives from universities into processor design, specifically ARM and RISC-V, are well known.

Then there is a comment calling the image presented as being AI-generated, which is just complete bunk.

Then a comment calling it a scam, based on nothing but it being an Indian project, with a disclaimer that it "happens regardless of skin colour".

When else do we see these sorts of comments? When the talking point is about something Chinese. We never see this kind of shit when it's about something from the US, Japan or Europe. There is a pattern of negativity and hostility in TPU-comments towards projects not from the "West" that is incredibly idiotic and tiresome.

Dude, take a look at what they are presenting... separate it from your notions and actually examine the facts. The facts are... These are renders at best, AI generated at worst. IF they are renders, the person doesn't know what they are doing, but it looks ai generated. Perhaps if you knew fuckall about chip design you could spot the issues with the layout. They have HBM/ Dimm and so-dimm slots on the board.

They admitted to not even having a fab partner, they stated goals/dreams and nothing more. There are 0 numbers for what sort of performance/performance/watt they are targeting...
Frankly it hurts how premature this announcement is.

 

[Wirko]

Then there is a comment calling the image presented as being AI-generated, which is just complete bunk.

The source of the first image is unclear, it's possible that someone else made it, not Ola.

But it certainly looks like it's been AI generated. Crude, with weird proportions, and apparently little familiarity with how computer PCB are designed. It makes a bad impression, and doubly so when we associate it with a company involved in AI.

When else do we see these sorts of comments? When the talking point is about something Chinese. We never see this kind of shit when it's about something from the US, Japan or Europe. There is a pattern of negativity and hostility in TPU-comments towards projects not from the "West" that is incredibly idiotic and tiresome.

Please pay more attention to what TPU members, including Americans, are saying about the US CHIPS Act. Despite, in many casees, it's about money being handed to companies who aren't new but have already proven they can make and/or design advanced chips.

 

[JasBC]

Giant IT corporations have been dumping billions in AI for years and still have nothing to show for it and now some taxi company is going to make a domestic Indian AI chip in a bit over a year???

This isn't Modi announcing a new government initiative for IITB and IITM where they get extra funding to make it happen in a decade, it's a taxi service company.
it's the same as Dunkin doughnuts starting a space initiative claiming it will have manned flights to mars in 2026

A "taxi company" which made the switchover to their own cloud computing platform from Microsoft Azure and dropped Google Maps for their own only a few months ago - there is clearly going on things in the background we have no idea about. They also aren't promising that they'll have anything more than a "midrange" solution done by 2026, and even then they're collaborating with another firm to provide the accelerators for it, and the processor will be ARM-based - they're not starting from scratch!

Also, it isn't actually odd for a "taxi company" to be interested in AI, they wouldn't be the first as not only is there DiDi in China working on similar stuff in conjunction with autonomous driving, but Waymo and Cruise in the US too.

Looking it up, this wasn't even a presentation by Ola, it was by Krutrim - India's first unicorn in the AI-space, which is not owned by Ola. This whole piece can't even be called a press release, it is based on a WCFTech "article" based on a single tweet by a random person who only had images from the event to show. . .

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

What do you mean "nothing written is offensive or mean spirited"? Literally second comment is increduality over the fact that India can design their own chips, when Indian high-tech ventures like domestic spaceflight has resulted in them being one of the only countries on Earth able to accomplish it independently, while initiatives from universities into processor design, specifically ARM and RISC-V, are well known.

Domestic space flight is not a semicondoctor industry, last I checked. These Indian processor initiatives are so well known, that nobody seems to know anything about them. Odd that. India has no notable processor design nor manufacturing capabilities right now. This is not offensive, nor mean spirited.

Then there is a comment calling the image presented as being AI-generated, which is just complete bunk.

Why is it complete bunk? Government offices, private company presentations, known artists, media companies, EVERYBODY is using AI generation right now. Given the motherboard in question looks like something someone with a vague idea of what a computer is designed while blind, it is likely AI generated.

And calling something AI generated is not offensive nor mean spirited.

Then a comment calling it a scam, based on nothing but it being an Indian project, with a disclaimer that it "happens regardless of skin colour".

The comment in question called it "another attempt to extort money from the government". We have seen innumerous examples of tech grifting money from the government (CHIPS act anyone?). Nowhere in that comment was India mentioned explicitly. YOU added that part of the comment to decry it as racism. I'm sure there's a fancy word for this type of literary attack, frankly it's disingenuous.

When else do we see these sorts of comments? When the talking point is about something Chinese. We never see this kind of shit when it's about something from the US, Japan or Europe. There is a pattern of negativity and hostility in TPU-comments towards projects not from the "West" that is incredibly idiotic and tiresome.

You apparently have not read the articles on intel's troubles, or any article about Huawei's chips, or any flounderings from Europe. These types of projects from the west, especially AI focused, get constant criticism here. This statement tells me you've come to a pre-determined conclusion that the TPU community is filled with "negativity and hostility" and you are inventing evidence and navel gazing to make that reality.

That also begs another question. If the comments are so offensive, negative, and hateful.....why are you reading them and participating?

And that's why by the end of the year, India will surpass Japan as the 4th Economy of the world.

Japan is still sleeping for the past 30 years. No more innovations on semiconductors, AI, display technologies, etc
No wonder if they are still using faxes, ISDN lines and floppy disks until July this year:

Japan's government finally says goodbye to floppy disks

The use of the floppy disk, which was still used in some government agencies in Japan, has now been scrapped.

www.bbc.com

ISDN lines are still widely used throughout the west, especially in more rural areas. Same with faxes, regularly used in government offices, corporate data centers, and educational institutions worldwide. Only recently did we move our nuclear missile program off of floppy disk requirements.

This isn't the win it sounds like. India has 1.4B people, Japan 0.123B, literally 1/11th the population. The per capita GDP reflects that as well. Japan has infrastructure and living standards that most Indians can only dream of.

Much of the reason that industry hasn't moved to India is that basic services are sparse and unreliable - like electricity, reasonably maintained roads, clean water, and sanitation (sewage) services.

There's also the goofy mucking about with their currency, done in an effort to cut down on black market money, which could easily render investments worthless or significantly less valuable. Stable currency is one of the pillars of any major investment.

 

[Caring1]

Never heard of Raja Koduri?

Einstein was a U.S. citizen, see where I'm going with this?

 

[harbinwinter]

As everyone knows，the Indians are good at bragging