印度 AI 大爆發：Sarvam、Krutrim、Haptik 與十四億人的「AI 工廠」野心

When it comes to AI talent, you may not know that many top AI companies' engineers, and even CEOs, come from India. Now, India not only exports talent but also aims to cultivate a complete AI industry on its own soil. This explosive force is worth taking a closer look at.

Sovereign AI: India wants its own models

India has more than twenty official languages and a population of 1.4 billion, making it difficult for international models to cater to all its needs. Therefore, India has begun to build its own large models: the startup Sarvam AI focuses on Indian multilingual models, while Ola Group's Krutrim works on both models and AI cloud, attempting to control its computing power. Behind this is the Indian government's clear "sovereign AI" policy, which aims to have its own models, computing power, and data sovereignty.

Conversational AI Empire

India's most mature AI battlefield is conversation. Haptik (under Jio Group) and Gupshup have moved enterprise customer service, marketing, and transactions into communication software like WhatsApp, handling astronomical amounts of messages every month. In a country where WhatsApp is almost equivalent to the internet, this "conversational commerce" infrastructure is extremely valuable, making India a global hub for conversational AI.

The confidence of an "AI factory"

India has several enviable conditions for developing AI: a large and young population, one of the largest developer communities in the world, widespread English proficiency, and a foundation laid by national digital infrastructure like UPI (Unified Payments Interface). This gives India the confidence to claim that it will become the global "AI factory" - not only a talent factory but also a production base for AI applications and services.

Real challenges

Of course, India's path is not without obstacles: it still relies on imports for computing power and high-end chips, and there is a gap between its top basic models and those of the US and China. Additionally, although India has many languages, organizing high-quality language materials is a massive undertaking. The ideal of sovereign AI requires time and capital to gradually fill in the gaps.

Implications for Taiwan

India's story has two layers of significance for Taiwan. First, it represents a market: the digital wave of 1.4 billion people is a blue ocean that Taiwanese products and services can tap into. Second, it serves as a reference point: India's path of "sovereign AI + conversational commerce + developer dividend" shows that it is possible to occupy a place in the AI era without copying the Silicon Valley model. Taiwan can also start from its own strengths and define its own AI strategy. For further reading: The rise of AI in Southeast Asia.