Nvidia CEO Heads to India. A Sign of the Country’s AI Chip-Making Ambitions.

“We talked at length about the rich potential India offers in the world of AI [artificial intelligence’,” said Modi, in a post on social-media network X, formerly Twitter. 

India has plenty of developers using
Nvidia
(ticker: NVDA) technology but the real prize would be to make the country an alternative for advanced semiconductor manufacturing to Taiwan in the face of China’s claims on the self-ruled island. 

India is still a long way from being a useful alternative to Taiwan. Its biggest proposed chip-manufacturing project was a collaboration worth nearly $20 billion between Taiwan’s
Foxconn Technology
(2354.Taiwan) and Indian resources conglomerate
Vedanta
(500295.India) to set up a semiconductor plant in Gujarat, the home state of Modi. However, the partners ended the collaboration in July, with experts noting the two companies had a lack of experience in the field. 

On the other hand, that could leave the path open to other options. The biggest catch for India would be to attract
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
(TSM), the world’s largest contract chip maker and the manufacturer of Nvidia’s most advanced semiconductors.

Taiwan Semiconductor is investing in the U.S. and several other countries to expand its facilities outside Taiwan. Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported in July that Foxconn was in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor about a potential joint venture.

Neither Nvidia nor Modi mentioned chip-plant investment in their statements after the meeting but it’s hard to imagine it didn’t come up considering the Indian leader’s priority to expand the country’s high-tech manufacturing sector. The global battle for chip making is still under way and India is keen to play its part.

Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]