Telecom networks to be at heart of India's AI ecosystem: AK Lahoti

Telecom networks will sit at the centre of India’s push into artificial intelligence, according to TRAI chairman AK Lahoti. Speaking on the India AI Mission, he said the government is working to give developers and institutions affordable access to more than 38,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), along with a separate secure cluster of 3,000 GPUs reserved for strategic applications.

Lahoti linked this compute build-out directly to the quality of India’s telecom infrastructure. Reliable, high-capacity networks are needed to move data, train models, and run AI services at scale, he said, arguing that telecom operators would effectively provide the backbone for the country’s emerging AI ecosystem.