My version of NVIDIA is 'vidya', which means knowledge: Mukesh Ambani tells CEO Jensen Huang (WATCH)

By Sunita Iyer | First Published Oct 25, 2024, 9:44 AM IST

At the recent NVIDIA AI Summit in Mumbai, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chairman Mukesh Ambani gave his interpretation of the tech giant NVIDIA’s name, tying it to Indian cultural values, much to the delight of NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang. This revelation came during an engaging conversation between the two industry leaders, during which they announced plans to revolutionize India’s artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

Vidya means knowledge in India: Ambani

In front of a packed audience, Ambani explained that the name "Nvidia" echoes the Hindi word "Vidya," which means "knowledge." This word is closely associated with the Hindu goddess Saraswati, the divine symbol of learning and wisdom in Indian tradition. Ambani linked the concept of knowledge with prosperity, symbolized by Goddess Lakshmi, pointing out that as knowledge deepens, so does prosperity.

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Ambani praised NVIDIA for its contributions to global innovation and emphasized on how the company has been at the forefront of the "knowledge revolution," and now, through its work in AI, it is leading what he called the "intelligence revolution" that drives global prosperity.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Haung's reaction to Ambani's interpretation

Jensen Huang, visibly thrilled by Ambani’s remarks, shared that when he founded NVIDIA 22 years ago, he faced criticism for choosing what many considered an unconventional name for a tech company.

“Everybody said it’s a horrible name and you’ll never make it,” Huang recalled. However, his intuition about the name’s significance persisted, and Ambani’s cultural perspective further validated his belief. “I knew I had named the company right,” Huang exclaimed.

Ambani added, “When you devote yourself seriously to the Goddess of Knowledge, then, according to our tradition, the Goddess of Prosperity follows. So what you are driving is the knowledge revolution and turning it into the intelligence revolution that drives prosperity across the world.”

Beautiful interpretation of name (VIDYA) by Mukesh Ambani using Hindu mythology and Beliefs 👏👏👏to the founder

By Devoting yourself to Acquiring Knowledge, I.e., Getting Near Goddess Saraswati,
Bring Prosperity, Goddess Lakshmi

pic.twitter.com/sYoYfZlxNt

— sudheer ☮️ (@reachsudheer)

Partnership for building AI infrastructure in India

The summit also marked the announcement of a landmark partnership between Reliance Industries and NVIDIA to build AI infrastructure in India. Discussions of this partnership started in September 2023 and will be directed to creating AI supercomputer systems suitable for application in India. The two firms seek to develop big models trained in Indian languages in order to bring the technological advancement in AI closer to the masses.

Ambani emphasized the importance of this initiative, stating, “India will be one of the biggest artificial intelligence markets. It’s the youth power that exists in India that will drive intelligence, and that too for the domestic market.” He further noted how India’s digital connectivity infrastructure has rapidly progressed over the last decade, saying, “Apart from the US and China, India now has the best digital connectivity infrastructure in the world. Jio took India from Number 158 in the world to Number 1 in just eight years.”

Jensen Huang also announced that NVIDIA’s latest state of the art Blackwell chips, which is critical for the company’s new generation GPU architecture, is in production and they will be shipping it with customers from fourth quarter of 2024. These high IGP performance chips are poised to drive some of the high-end AI applications in the world thus consolidating NVIDIA’s position as a key provider of hardware for AI applications. Currently, there is production in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plants.