GoKawiilIndia is partnering with the United Arab Emirates to ease the grip of Amazon, Microsoft, and Google on artificial intelligence computing.
G42, backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, signed an agreement on May 15 to deploy an AI supercomputer in India, comprising 64 systems made by U.S. chipmaker Cerebras. A G42 unit will handle installation, operations, and maintenance, with Cerebras providing technical support, G42 said in response to questions from Rest of World.
Any government that wants to use AI today typically rents computing power from Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. India already has at least $45 billion in commitments from the three companies. The country’s $1.25 billion national AI program runs entirely on Nvidia processors, with 34,000 available to researchers and businesses, and a target of 100,000 by the year’s end.
The G42 deal adds a second path, where India will have machines on its own soil, under its own rules, run by a non-U.S. partner.
This is an example of India’s pragmatic approach to AI sovereignty, using the power of its scale.” Cameron Kerry, former acting secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce
“This is an example of India’s pragmatic approach to AI sovereignty, using the power of its scale to adapt what’s available from other countries, whether AI leaders like China and the U.S. or others, to adapt to its own needs,” Cameron Kerry, former acting secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce, told Rest of World.
Kerry, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution, co-authored a report in February, arguing that no country has full control over every element of AI and that governments must assemble capabilities from multiple partners.
G42 has been working on what it calls the Intelligence Grid, a global network of AI facilities that it builds, owns, and operates for governments. India is the first country to sign up. Discussions are on with other governments, G42 said, without naming the countries.
The UAE-India deal
India’s autonomous scientific society, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, will work with G42’s Core42 unit, with all data remaining under Indian governance rules. G42 declined to disclose the financial terms of the India deal or confirm who will own the hardware after installation.
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