Reliance Unveils World's Largest Data Centre in Jamnagar, Post Trump's Stargate Reveal

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Group is set to build what might be the world's biggest data center by capacity in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This move comes after a flurry of global investments to capitalise on increasing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) services.

Earlier this week, Donald Trump announced a $500bn investment over the next four years to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States of America. This venture, known as ‘Stargate,’ will be backed by Japanese conglomerate Softbank, cloud giant Oracle, and generative AI pioneer OpenAI.

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Nvidia Partnership

Ambani is reportedly purchasing AI semiconductors from NVIDIA, a global leader in AI technology to power his data center. This follows the October 2024 announcement by Reliance and Nvidia of a cooperative effort to construct AI infrastructure in India during a conversation session at the Nvidia AI Summit 2024.

Reliance Industries and Nvidia collaborated with a vision to create AI supercomputers and large language models (LLMs) customised for India's varied languages.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, said during the conference that it makes perfect sense for India to manufacture its own AI. "You should not export data to gain intelligence. India should not export flour just to import bread", he stated.

Mukesh Ambani reiterated this sentiment, highlighting India's robust digital connectivity infrastructure. He stated, "We can use intelligence to bring prosperity to all people and equality to the world."

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End to The LLM Debate?

This move by Ambani has presented a compelling argument for building homegrown LLMs, countering the views of Infosys co-founders Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani.

The debate began when Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, shared his disagreement with Nandan Nilekani's opinion that Indian startups should avoid building LLMs. Srinivas argued that India should prioritise both model training and application development to fully capitalise on advancements in artificial intelligence, drawing parallels to India's achievements in the space sector.

Several Indian founders and executives, including TCS CEO K. Krithivasan, Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, and Google Research India Director Manish Gupta, have expressed diverse opinions on the matter.

India AI Mission

The Indian government has also offered major assistance for the country's AI ambitions, investing over Rs 10,000 crore to fund entrepreneurs, AI initiatives, and the creation of LLMs.

However, these attempts have encountered numerous hurdles. The nation's semiconductor industry is still in its early stages, with no indigenous chip fabrication facilities. Establishing semiconductor production plants is a capital-intensive and time-consuming process that necessitates a highly specialised staff, which India is now developing.