India is not a nonentity in AI: sovereign models, speech AI, and semiconductor plans

In response to claims that India is a loser in the AI race, India ranked third in Stanford’s 2025 Global AI Vibrancy Index. The IndiaAI Mission selected 12 institutions this February to develop indigenous foundation models, with about 21.94 billion rupees in government support. India is also developing speech AI, domestic GPUs, and AI accelerators. C-DAC’s AI inference chip has entered trial production in partnership with HCL, with a goal of specializing in GPUs by 2029.