To boost startups losing to train AI models in the country, the government plans a major graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster under the India AI programme, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar said on September 22. 

A GPU cluster is a group of computers with GPUs on each node to train neural networks for image and video processing. The minister stated that the government is looking to back startups and foreign companies who seek to create domestic intellectual property in chip design for AI applications under the Rs 1100- 1200 crore design-liked incentive systems. 

The minister also stated that their discussion about AI is almost always about applications like ChatGPT. Their goal is to build real-world AI use cases. Here, we look at sectors like health, governance, and education and create AI-specific integrated circuits for those applications. 

The minister was speaking in Delhi a day before Micron's groundbreaking of a semiconductor packaging and assembling plant in Gujarat's Sanand. He stated that the project will signal other chip companies and investors to take India more seriously in the global electronics value chain. 

Computer storage chip maker Micron will set up its semiconductor assembly and test plant in Gujarat, entailing a total investment of $2.75 billion, the company said on June 22. The total cost of the plant comprises $825 million from Micron and the rest from the government in two phases, according to a statement by a company. 

Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that, after the announcement of the Semiconductor vision by PM Narendra Modi and the planned investment of Rs 76,000 crore to catalyse and build India's Semicon ecosystem, much progress has been made in the last 18 months. 

The minister remarked that this is a big milestone in India's roadmap and growth as a Semiconductor Nation.