India among key markets for AMD's Helios GPU platform rollout
What's the story
AMD, a leading computer chipmaker, has announced plans to launch its cutting-edge GPU-based high-performance computing platform, Helios, across several countries, including India. The rollout is expected to begin in the second half of 2026. This strategic move comes as a response to the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and the proposed expansion of data center capacities by global tech giants.
Tech specs
Helios rack offers 2.9 FP4 exaflops
The Helios platform packs 72 interconnected MI455X (AMD GPUs) accelerators in a single rack, offering up to 2.9 exaflops of FP4 compute performance per rack. This means it can handle a massive amount of data processing power, making it ideal for AI applications. The initial global customer deployments of Helios systems, including India, are expected to kick off in the latter half of 2026.
Market competition
Challenging NVIDIA's Vera Rubin
The demand for graphics processing units (GPUs) has skyrocketed due to the global surge in AI. NVIDIA, a US chip company, currently dominates the market with an over 80% share. However, AMD's Helios platform is set to take on NVIDIA's Vera Rubin POD, which promises a compute speed of 3.6 exaflops but at a higher cost.
Strategic alliance
AMD and TCS co-develop rack-scale design
AMD has partnered with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to co-develop an AI-ready rack-scale infrastructure design based on the Helios platform. This is part of India's national AI initiatives. The two companies will provide an AI-ready data center blueprint supporting up to 200MW of capacity and work with hyperscalers and AI companies to speed up data center build-outs in India.
Tech stance
Pushing open architecture adoption
AMD is pushing for the adoption of open architecture in building data centers, instead of proprietary systems used by its competitors. Archana Vemulapalli, Corporate Vice President of Global Enterprise Sales at AMD, said that as AI moves from pilots into operational deployment, India's competitive advantage is increasingly defined by the depth and scalability of its talent ecosystem and growing AI-ready infrastructure.