NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang urges India to lead the AI revolution, not just export software

In a candid discussion with Tech Today’s Aayush Ailawadi during his visit to India, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang underscored the immense potential for India to become a key player in the AI and intelligence revolution. Huang’s comments were focused on how India, which was pivotal during the IT revolution, could ensure it doesn’t repeat history by becoming just a back office for AI.

Ailawadi posed a direct question to Huang: “The concern with the intelligence revolution is that, when the IT revolution came about a few years ago, India became somewhat of a back office through the outsourcing industry. How do we ensure that this doesn’t happen with the intelligence revolution? How do we ensure companies like NVIDIA and their partners in India can lead, rather than follow?”

Huang’s response was clear: India has the ingredients to become a global hub for AI development. He said,
“That’s exactly why we’re here. In fact, my conversation with Prime Minister Modi was centred on this very topic. Why export software? Why export the labour while the software is built elsewhere? Why not manufacture the intelligence here and export it from India? You own the data. You have the energy, the infrastructure – everything you need to build it here.”

Huang emphasised that India has the resources to process its own data and create home-grown AI solutions, rather than relying on outsourcing or foreign development. He cited examples of how models like LLaMA 3, an open-source AI tool, enable countries to develop their own digital intelligence based on local data. According to Huang,
“The key is to harvest the data here, process it here, turn it into intelligence here, and export that intelligence globally.”

He further noted that India’s large global diaspora offers a unique opportunity to create technology that reflects cultural needs. “There are millions of Indians across the world who would love to have Hindi on their phones, wherever they live – even in Switzerland. Those tokens, that intelligence, should be created here in India, not elsewhere.”

NVIDIA’s investment in India, alongside its collaborations with Indian tech companies, signals a move to shift from being just a service provider to becoming an intelligence manufacturing powerhouse.