The IndiaAI Compute Portal currently focuses on subsidising access to proprietary hardware such as Nvidia H100s to accelerate compute access for researchers and startups. The intent is sound. However, this approach raises a harder question: what should public money actually be optimising for?
Every rupee directed toward proprietary GPU access deepens dependency on a closed ecosystem controlled largely by private American companies and governed by US export law, thereby exposing access to geopolitical risk. The US has already implemented export controls on advanced semiconductors, and India has felt its vulnerability. While subsidising advanced chips is helpful in the short run, it is strategically self-defeating in the longer run. India needs parallel investment in open ecosystems so the subsidies eventually become unnecessary.
Public money carries a different obligation than private capital. Private investors can rationally bet on proprietary ecosystems because they’re chasing returns. However, public investment must be used to ensure continuous access to critical technologies and safeguard the country from geopolitical tensions, i.e. build infrastructure India can own and modify, rather than just access and rent.
To achieve this, public funding should target three foundational layers.
First, government fabs operate process capabilities without publicly accessible Process Design Kits (the blueprint for designing chips). Funding the development of PDKs that can be open-sourced would lower the barrier for Indian startups to design chips for domestic fabrication.
Second, public funding should flow toward developing open Electronic Design Automation tools, where chip design actually happens. These are almost entirely dominated by Western firms.
Third, and most directly relevant to compute access, public clusters should be built on hardware-agnostic, open-stack architectures to prevent proprietary architecture lock-in.
The fear of compute deficit is real, and the impulse to solve it quickly through proven hardware is understandable. But compute infrastructure built on open architecture is essential to safeguard the ecosystem from geopolitical vulnerabilities.