Sarvam AI, HCL Tech Deal: What It Mean As US Restricts Access To Top AI Models

In a major push to build sovereign AI models, HCLTech will invest $150M as the lead strategic investor in Sarvam AI, an artificial intelligence Unicorn startup to build systems designed for India-specific needs.

The investment comes at a time when India’s $250-billion IT services industry is facing AI-linked headwinds as artificial intelligence has triggered shift towards AI-native companies and automation-led software tools. Over the past several months, investor concerns over the long-term impact of generative AI on conventional outsourcing models have weighed on Indian IT stocks, especially after companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI expanded enterprise offerings and consulting capabilities.

After HCLTech's 10.46% acquisition in Sarvam AI, Vivek Raghavan, Co-Founder of Sarvam, said, "Our ambition is to diffuse this technology widely in India, creating significant value across sectors for citizens, small businesses, enterprises, and state and central governments."

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C Vijayakumar, CEO & Managing Director of HCLTech said, "By bringing together Sarvam's research in AI models with HCLTech's global presence, we are creating a differentiated full-stack AI platform for enterprises and governments, strengthening our ability to deliver secure, scalable, and responsible AI solutions."  

Meanwhile, the US has restricted the access of top level AI models of Anthropic to foreign nationals, including those working in the company.

In an X post, Anthropic said, "The US government, citing national security authorities, has issued an export control directive to suspend all access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5 by any foreign national, whether inside or outside the United States, including foreign national Anthropic employees."

"The net effect of this order is that we must abruptly disable Fable 5 and Mythos 5 for all our customers to ensure compliance," it said.