AMD offers 100K hours of free developer cloud access to Indian researchers, startups to democratise compute

AMD, a semiconductor firm headquartered in Santa Clara, on Friday (September 5, 2025) said it would provide Indian researchers and startups, 100,000 hours of free access to AMD Developer Cloud (ADC) over the next year.

ADC offers developers and open-source contributors on-demand access to its AMD Instinct MI300X GPUs, a GPU accelerator designed to power Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads, through a third-party cloud website. AMD will set up a dedicated Discord channel to apply for access.

According to the semiconductor company, this programme supports India’s rapidly expanding startup ecosystem and digital transformation initiatives by providing access to enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that would typically require significant capital investment. Now, Indian developers, researchers, and emerging companies can leverage advanced GPU technology used by leading global enterprises to develop breakthrough AI applications, conduct cutting-edge research, and bring innovative solutions to market faster, as per an AMD communique.

Mark Papermaster, CTO and Executive Vice President, AMD said, “This initiative removes cost and complexity barriers for startups and independent developers by opening access to AMD GPUs for training and development: no hardware procurement, no heavy upfront spend.’‘

AMD also announced a workforce development initiative to train 100,000 STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates in AI and GPU programming in India over the next three years. The programme would focus on developing expertise in open-source GPU programming, a critical skill set for the next generation of AI applications, the statement said.

Participants would be able to gain hands-on experience on AMD ROCm, the open software stack which includes programming models, tools, compilers, libraries, and runtimes for AI and HPC solution development on AMD GPUs.

Jaya Jagadish, senior vice president and country head, AMD India said, “India’s engineering talent is already shaping the future of high-performance computing and AI globally. This programme ensures they have the most advanced tools and knowledge to lead that transformation.’‘

AMD was not just training programmers, but was building the workforce that would drive India’s AI economy, she claimed.