Amaravati will host the country’s first Quantum and AI University campus under the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology. The project got a ₹730.70 crore investment for five years. NIELIT signed a memorandum of understanding on February 20, 2026. Many students will use these facilities for advanced technical training.
Even as the Andhra Pradesh government has tied up with the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) to set up the country’s first dedicated Quantum and AI University campus at Amaravati, NVIDIA’s role seems to be confined to the AI Living Labs initiative that the State government is building in parallel to promote AI skilling.
The State government announced last year that it would set up the university, touted as the first in the country, in association with chipmaker NVIDIA. (The classes were to begin early this year.)
However, it issued an order earlier this year announcing the formation of the AI Living Labs Foundation, where NVIDIA will provide free AI teaching kits and learning resources, with the State buying hardware through open procurement.
The campus will be part of NIELIT’s existing Deemed-to-be University framework under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), while NVIDIA, the partner named for the AI University last year, is involved only in the Labs initiative as per the official announcements.
NVIDIA has not responded to queries on its role in the university or its role in the Labs initiative and the rollout plan.
AI University campus
The campus will be built on 8.5 acres, with a proposed investment of ₹730.70 crore over five years. The project is proposed to be funded entirely through grant-in-aid from MeitY.
The CRDA (Capital Region Development Authority) meeting, chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu two months ago, took the decision. NIELIT had signed a memorandum of understanding with the State government at the India AI Impact Summit on February 20, 2026, in this connection.
Academic and skill-development programmes are expected to begin from a temporary facility at Acharya Nagarjuna University in Guntur. The campus will offer undergraduate, postgraduate, doctoral, diploma, and executive programmes in areas such as quantum computing, AI and machine learning, data science, chip design, VLSI, and high-performance computing.
The campus plans to train about 8,250 learners over five years, including 1,650 through degree programmes and 6,600 through skilling and certification programmes. NIELIT proposes collaborations with IIT Tirupati, IIIT Sri City, Andhra University and JNTU institutions.
Living Labs Foundation
In a parallel development, the State government approved the creation of AI Living Labs Foundation, a Section 8 not-for-profit company, earlier this year. It would set up and run AI labs across the State on a hub-and-spoke model.
The foundation will provide shared graphics processing unit (GPU) computing resources, AI tools, curated datasets and sandboxes, and coordinate AI skilling, certification and faculty training.
Besides skilling, it intends to promote applied research, including developing AI models and large language models, and applications in agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, fintech, animation, visual effects, gaming and comics and digital public infrastructure.
The same order approved an amendment to the existing MoU with NVIDIA ‘on a non-exclusive basis’. Under it, the State government would procure AI hardware through the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) or open tender, ‘without vendor lock-in’.
(In June 2025, the State government said it would establish the country’s first AI University in association with NVIDIA.)
The illustrative configurations listed in the order include NVIDIA L40S accelerators for institutional-scale training and fine-tuning, and B-series accelerators for advanced research.
NVIDIA would provide free AI teaching kits and learning resources for educators associated with the labs. Training materials and courseware would be free, while certification would be optional, with candidates or sponsors paying the fees.
The first-phase plan envisaged a central hub and 8-12 spoke institutions, with a target of rolling out the first two programme waves within six months.