Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary S. Krishnan said in an interview published on 4 November 2026 that India intends to develop an indigenous GPU chip in about 24 months under India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 (ISM 2.0 / Semicon 2.0). He framed the timeline as a development target, not a firm commercial launch date, and named no manufacturer, architecture or chip specifications.

Krishnan told ETGovernment that only a small number of firms worldwide make AI accelerator chips, which keeps prices high. Building a domestic GPU is meant to reduce that foreign dependency as India scales AI compute.

Why MeitY is targeting an indigenous GPU

He placed chips and accelerators as the second of five layers in India’s AI technology stack. The first is energy and power, where he said India is relatively well placed. The GPU push sits under ISM 2.0, which the Union Cabinet approved on 15 July 2026 with an outlay of ₹1,27,500 crore, according to a Press Information Bureau release.

ISM 2.0 covers chip design, fabrication, advanced packaging, materials and equipment, and research and development. Krishnan said fabrication facilities can receive 40% support and advanced packaging 35%. Under the Design Linked Incentive in phase 1, 24 companies received assistance and 15 of those later raised venture capital.

The five layers of India’s AI stack

Beyond power and chips, he described servers and compute infrastructure as the third layer, naming manufacturers such as VVDN, Kaynes and Avalon, and pointing to C-DAC’s Rudra series, including AI-capable Rudra 3 servers, plus technology transfer. That sits alongside private capacity such as the Vultr Chennai AI supercluster with AMD and analyses of India’s AI data-centre boom and GPU utilisation opportunity.

The fourth layer is AI models. Under the IndiaAI Mission, MeitY has supported more than 20 indigenous models, hoping at least two reach frontier scale, alongside smaller specialised models. Recent releases include foundation models from Soket AI and ZenteiQ under IndiaAI. The fifth layer is applications and enterprise adoption, which he called perhaps the most important for India as organisations still hesitate over security and confidentiality.

Trusted chips, SHAKTI/VEGA and IT jobs

Parallel to the GPU goal, India is commercialising indigenous SHAKTI and VEGA RISC-V processors and encouraging trusted chips for CCTV, IoT devices, drones and smart meters. Private deeptech efforts such as Agrani Labs’ AI inference chip fundraising show industry interest in home-grown accelerators. Citing NITI Aayog, Krishnan said AI could create a Y2K-like opening for Indian IT: about six million IT/ITES jobs today, with roughly two million at risk of redundancy and about four million new roles possible. Related MeitY work on the DEPA for AI Training framework is policy context, not the lead of this story.

Key takeaways

• Target: India aims to develop an indigenous GPU / AI accelerator chip in about 24 months under ISM 2.0; no vendor, architecture or launch date was named.
• Funding: Semicon 2.0 has a ₹1,27,500 crore outlay, with fab support at 40% and advanced packaging at 35%.
• Stack: MeitY is addressing five AI layers—power, chips, servers (including C-DAC Rudra), models (20+ IndiaAI-backed) and enterprise applications.

FAQ

When will India’s indigenous GPU be ready?

MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan said development would take about 24 months. That is a project timeline, not a confirmed commercial launch date, and no manufacturer or chip specs were announced.

What is India Semiconductor Mission 2.0?

ISM 2.0 / Semicon 2.0 is the Cabinet-approved programme, with a ₹1,27,500 crore outlay from 15 July 2026, to build chip design, fabs, advanced packaging, materials, equipment and R&D across India’s semiconductor ecosystem.

Why does MeitY want a domestic GPU?

Few global firms make AI accelerator chips, which keeps costs high. An indigenous GPU is meant to reduce foreign dependence as India expands AI compute and enterprise adoption.

Featured image: MeitY Secretary S. Krishnan at the Digital India Corporation Noida office inauguration. Photo: Digital India / MeitY

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