Reliance Taps Nvidia to Create India's Most Powerful AI Supercomputer

In a big boost to India's AI ambitions, Reliance Jio has announced a partnership with Nvidia to develop one of the most powerful AI supercomputers in the country. The announcement came during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's visit to India for the G20 summit.

Jio will leverage Nvidia's advanced computing platforms like the Grace Hopper superchip and DGX systems to build its AI infrastructure and indigenous capabilities in generative AI models like ChatGPT. This is the same technology powering AI platforms by Microsoft, Google and others globally.

The Grace Hopper GH200 is the world's first chip based on the HBM3e architecture, designed specifically for accelerating AI workloads. With up to 72 ARM Neoverse CPU cores and massive memory bandwidth, it provides over 8 petaflops of AI performance per server, making it over 3X more powerful than Nvidia's previous H100 chip.

Reliance can also scale up the infrastructure by daisy chaining multiple GH200 servers using Nvidia's NVLink interconnect. This allows training of gigantic AI models that are simply not possible with generic data center hardware.

"We are excited to partner with Reliance to build cutting-edge AI infrastructure in India. With access to world-class computing like Grace Hopper and India's talent, data and scale, Reliance can develop breakthrough AI made in India for India," said Mr Huang after meeting PM Modi and other industry leaders.

Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani had outlined plans to enter this space during the company's AGM in August. This deal ties into that vision of leveraging AI across Jio's consumer offerings.

Jio Platforms already counts tech giants like Google, Meta, Intel as key investors. It also has a long-term cloud partnership in place with Microsoft.

The new supercomputer will be several times more powerful than India's current fastest supercomputer Param Siddhi-AI, as per Reliance and Nvidia. Nvidia is expected to deliver the first GH200 systems in Q2 of 2024, making Reliance potentially the first Indian company to adopt it.

Meanwhile, Nvidia also partnered with Tata Consultancy Services to train over 5 lakh employees in AI skills, highlighting growing industry demand for talent and technology in this space.

With data and mobile penetration surging, India is poised to become a major AI hub globally. The Reliance-Nvidia partnership marks an important milestone in realising this vision with homegrown capabilities.