Intel vs. Nvidia: Battle for Tech Dominance Shifts to AI

Sunil Nanda, a BITS Pilani graduate, founded the India Design Center for Nvidia Graphics in Bangalore in 2004, just 11 years after the company itself was founded in 1993 in the US.

- GOVINDRAJ ETHIRAJ

A job description I found from that period said NVIDIA was looking for talented people who are passionate about the visual computing industry.

While Nvidia's design and engineering center came up in India 20 years ago, it came after chip giant Intel, who had already set up in Bangalore, some 5-6 years earlier.

And Intel was the big brand and draw, including for journalists like me who chased visiting Intel brass for interviews. Nvidia was there, but except for the tech and gaming media, no one cared that much. After all, it was just a gaming chip.

Intel's largest engineering site outside the United States today is in India and it has over 13,000 employees here, of which 90% are engineers.

Nvidia is large in India too, but smaller in absolute numbers, being a smaller organization as well.