During a five-day tour of India earlier this month, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visited four cities, dined with tech executives and researchers, took numerous selfies, and sat for a one-on-one conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the AI sector. Huang¡¯s India itinerary was so crammed that he confessed to surviving entire work days on spicy masala omelets and cold coffees.
Huang may have been treated like a head of state, but the trip¡¯s purpose was all business. For Nvidia, whose graphics processors are vital to the development of artificial intelligence systems, the South Asian nation of 1.4 billion people presents a rare opportunity. As the U.S. increasingly clamps down on exports of high-end chips to China and the world seeks an alternative electronics manufacturing base, India could shape up to be a source of AI talent, a site for chip production and a market for Nvidia¡¯s products.
At a meeting with leading researchers in Delhi, Huang spoke of re-training entire swaths of the country¡¯s workforce and building future AI models using Indian data and talent, according to multiple attendees. Huang also told one executive in India¡¯s tech hub of Bangalore that he¡¯s a big believer in the country¡¯s engineering talent, particularly graduates from its top engineering schools, the Indian Institutes of Technology.
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