G42 plans a 10,000-GPU AI compute expansion in the Middle East.

The Government of India is building a state-controlled artificial intelligence computing infrastructure through two major commitments, together representing approximately 10,000 GPUs of additional capacity.

The first component involves installing 3,000 GPUs through the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). The second comprises an 8-exaflop artificial intelligence supercomputer—equivalent to approximately 10,000 GPUs—to be deployed in India under an agreement with the United Arab Emirates. Developed by Abu Dhabi-based G42 and Cerebras in partnership with C-DAC and the Mohamed bin Zayed University of AI, the supercomputer will be owned by the Indian government as a "UAE government gift," according to a senior government official.

"We are working with C-DAC on a 3,000 worth of capacity to be installed and then we are also working on the other G42 termsheet which was signed in the presence of the Prime Minister," the official said. "We are doing the final agreements to get further compute. That will be worth of about 10,000 GPUs worth of compute." The official confirmed the government's ownership structure, stating: "It will be owned by the government because it is a gift from the UAE government to the Indian government. We will be setting up the data centres…that was the agreement signed between the two governments."

The initiative addresses constraints within the India AI Mission, which currently has access to approximately 30,000 GPUs against commitments of 45,000. Several private providers have been unable to deliver their pledged capacity amid sharply rising equipment costs.

Pricing for the government-provided GPUs has not yet been determined. "We will have to see…we will have to adjust the subsidies according to what the startups get," the official said. "It will take at least three to four months and then we are going to float bids. It is still in RFP stage." Beyond these commitments, the government is preparing additional bids to expand computing capacity and establish a state-controlled pool of AI compute alongside capacity sourced from private providers.

Analysts have identified critical gaps in the government's technical specifications. "There is currently very little clarity on what specific mix of AI accelerator chips the government plans to install and targeting which cohort and use-cases training/fine-tuning vs inferencing," said Neil Shah, Vice President-Research at Counterpoint Research. With the India AI Mission's total budget set at ₹10,372 crore over five years, Shah questioned whether the government would increase this allocation to maintain pace with rising costs and secure advanced chips. He warned that deploying chips already three to four years old would result in significant inefficiency in both power consumption and performance.