India's design in every chip but no India-made chip yet: Ola founder

Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal has called out "unique irony" of India having its design imprint on every chip in the world, yet no chip of its own, and said while his announcement on first AI chip for India is a "moonshot", the company is fully confident of delivering on the promise.

In an interaction with PTI editors at the agency's headquarters here, Aggarwal talked at length on his vision behind the bold and ambitious project, and explained why building a chip from scratch is a "risky endeavour". And why he is convinced that Ola Group and AI venture Krutrim can pull off the "moonshot".

Aggarwal said the company would not be setting up a fab for its AI chip. Instead, it plans to work with global foundries, say, in Taiwan, Korea or even the American ecosystem.

Conversations are on but not yet finalised, the Ola top boss said, adding, "hopefully somebody puts up a cutting-edge fab in India, and we will be happy to use it."

A vocal advocate of India's digital sovereignty, Aggarwal is