MeitY Extends GPU Tender Deadline To November 12

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has reportedly extended the deadline for submitting bids for the government’s INR 10,000 Cr graphics processing unit (GPU) tender to November 12.

As per the Economic Times report, a government official confirmed that the deadline is extended from the initial date, which was October 16.

The report also said the tender aims to set up public AI cloud infrastructure with a capacity of at least 10,000 GPUs through a public-private partnership under the India AI Mission.

GPU is a specialised chip that renders graphics and images by performing rapid mathematical calculations that are needed in processing AI.

Weeks ago, the government eased eligibility criteria for the procurement of 10,000 GPUs, to allow more participation of smaller companies and startups, where the IT ministry reduced the turnover requirement for bidding companies and adjusted the AI compute unit specifications.

These changes came in practice, after companies raised concerns during a pre-bid meeting in September, on grounds of highly restrictive initial tender terms for smaller businesses.

In the original tender, bidders were required to have at least 1,000 AI compute units on their cloud platform. While this remains unchanged, the government has lowered the performance specifications.

It is pertinent to note that the current alteration in the deadline marks the second extension, which was originally set for September 6 and then pushed to October 16.

While the deadline was extended the last time, there were new clauses added and the government lowered the performance specifications.

On the modification of tender clauses, the government official stated that it remains unchanged, though the concerns raised by some companies are taken under consideration, revealed the report. The corrigendum did not reflect any further modifications to the tender.

“The last date for bid submission has been extended to November 12. As of today, the clauses in the tender remain unchanged. A few companies have raised concerns, and we are reviewing them,” the report added citing the official.

Earlier this year, the country was also looking to strike a deal with US-based chipmaker NVIDIA to procure GPUs for its artificial intelligence (AI) mission.

Updated at 01:18 PM

Note: We at Inc42 take our ethics very seriously. More information about it can be found here.