NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang has devoted significant attention to India, including a recent visit to Mumbai, where he delivered a keynote speech. NVIDIA is expanding its influence in the Indian market, with six offices across the country.
On Wednesday, international media and industry sources reported that Jensen Huang, CEO of the leading AI chip company NVIDIA, personally visited Mumbai to deliver a keynote address at AI Summit India. CEO Huang emphasized the importance of India building its own AI infrastructure during his speech. He noted that India has a long history of producing and exporting software, but he envisions it as a future leader in AI exports. He also praised India’s tech talent as an amazing natural resource.
NVIDIA has been intensifying its focus on the Indian market. Six branches across the country employ approximately 4,000 staff members.
Furthermore, NVIDIA is building a 1-gigawatt (GW) data center in Gujarat, western India, which is expected to feature its next-generation AI chip, Blackwell.
NVIDIA has announced plans to increase collaborations with Indian companies for AI model development. The Indian market, with its 1.4 billion population, has become a magnet for global tech giants, with the Indian government reportedly welcoming these developments.
Industry analysts suggest that Huang’s public interest in India may prompt other semiconductor companies to consider entering the market. Companies that already count NVIDIA as a client or hope to in the future will likely have to consider their options carefully.
Some speculate that India’s significant efforts to court Huang’s visit may prompt the country to launch major initiatives for global companies to establish semiconductor plants there. Accordingly, the South Korean semiconductor industry is watching closely to see if the Indian government will intensify its requests for companies like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to build factories in India.
Last September, Invest India, the National Investment Promotion Agency, surveyed the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association to gauge the interest of South Korean semiconductor companies in entering the Indian market. Reportedly, these companies expressed concerns about potential issues arising from setting up factories in India, such as water and infrastructure shortages.
Samsung Electronics, a major South Korean semiconductor industry player, has consistently received proposals from India. Despite rejecting an initial request to build a local factory in 2014, Samsung has continued to receive requests from India at every opportunity.
Industry sources reveal that in April 2022, M.K. Stalin, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, India, requested Samsung Electronics to establish a factory through its local subsidiary. However, Samsung declined, citing ongoing semiconductor plant construction in South Korea and plans for two factories and an advanced packaging research and development (R&D) center in Taylor, Texas.
SK Hynix, another South Korean semiconductor giant, has also received strong overtures from India. In July 2023, reports emerged about SK Hynix collaborating with the Indian government on a semiconductor back-end (packaging) factory. However, this turned out to be more of a unilateral desire from the Indian side.
As SK Hynix continues to lead the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market with record quarterly results, industry watchers speculate that India’s proposals may become more concrete. In the third quarter of this year, SK Hynix posted approximately 17 trillion won ($13.1 billion) in revenue and an operating profit of 7.3 trillion won ($5.4 billion).
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