In a bid to strengthen India’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure, small and medium-sized companies are scrambling to form consortiums with cloud service providers (CSPs) and large enterprises to compete for a ₹10,000 crore government tender for graphics processing units (GPUs). This tender, central to India’s AI Mission, aims to bolster the nation’s AI capabilities by creating an advanced computing environment.
Prominent firms like ST Telemedia Global Data Centres, Tata Communications, E2E Networks, Larsen & Toubro, Nvidia, and others are actively seeking partnerships to meet the tender requirements. The companies attended a pre-bid meeting organized by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in late August, emphasizing the growing importance of collaboration in this sector.
To qualify for the bid, consortiums must have either installed or placed a purchase order for at least 1,000 GPUs, with specific turnover criteria. The lead bidder or the primary partner in the consortium must have an average annual turnover exceeding ₹100 crore over the last three financial years, while non-primary consortium members need a minimum turnover of ₹50 crore. Furthermore, at least one consortium partner must have an average annual turnover exceeding ₹50 crore in cloud operations during the same period.
Many companies, both large and small, do not meet all the conditions on their own, prompting them to explore consortiums as a way to qualify. Companies like Dell Technologies are taking a proactive approach by supporting their partners in infrastructure deployment. Anil Sethi, Vice President of Infrastructure Solutions Group at Dell Technologies India, confirmed Dell’s participation through its partners, helping them create and deploy the necessary infrastructure for the government’s AI projects.
