Aimed at enhancing computational capabilities, India to procure 10,000 graphics processing units by 2025

New Delhi [India], May 16 : India, a mega generator of digital data, is set to enhance its computational capabilities significantly by procuring 10,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) within the next 18 months, informed the country's G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Thursday.
In a post on his X timeline, the India G20 Sherpa asserted that the country, which is the world's highest in terms of population, generates 20 per cent of the world's data.
India also holds the position of having the second-highest number of GitHub AI projects globally, accounting for 19 per cent of worldwide AI projects, Kant said in his X post.
"This demonstrates our vibrant and active engagement in AI development on an international scale," the X post read. "AI will be a defining opportunity for India to transform learning & health outcomes and improve human development indices."
In a report published by CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd, a leading real estate consulting firm, on Wednesday, it said India topped major Asia Pacific countries with the highest data center capacity of 950 MW, excluding China.
The report said India overtook major countries like Australia, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, and Korea.
Moreover, it forecast India is likely to record the highest capacity addition of 850 MW during the 2024-2026 period, higher than major Asia Pacific countries.
A data centre is typically a large group of networked servers used by organizations for the remote storage or distribution of large amounts of data.
India's data centre industry has entered the growth stage, and the capacity is expected to double up in the next three years, from approximately 0.9 Gigawatts (GW) in 2023 to 2 GW in 2026, CareEdge Ratings said in a March report. This additional capacity built up has created substantial investment prospects due to the estimated capex requirement of Rs 50,000 crore in the next three years.
As per the Care report, India has data center capacity share of only 3 per cent globally despite generating 20 per cent of the global data. While mobile data usage in India is highest globally when compared with exabytes usage per month.
CareEdge Ratings expects need for data localization to trigger compulsorily investment in data center, and cost-saving incentives by States to attract investments.
"India is making the shift from a developing to a developed market economy, and the digital revolution is spurring economic expansion and producing vast amounts of data. Some of the key drivers of this rapid digitization are e-commerce, internet payments, online streaming, and adoption of new technologies such as 5G, IoT, and AI. Share of Edge data center is also expected to increase for meeting growing demand from tier II and tier III cities for ensuring lower latency," Maulesh Desai, Director, CareEdge Ratings, had said.