NEW DELHI (AP) — India hopes to secure up to $200 billion in investment in data centers over the next few years as it expands its ambition to become a hub for artificial intelligence, the electronics and information technology minister said Tuesday.
The investments underscore tech giants’ reliance on India as a base for key technology and talent in the global race for artificial intelligence dominance. For New Delhi, they bring high-value infrastructure and foreign capital with the scale to accelerate its digital transformation ambitions.
The push comes as governments around the world race to harness the economic potential of artificial intelligence while contending with job disruption, regulation and the increasing concentration of computing power in a handful of rich countries and companies.
“India is now seen as a trusted AI partner for countries in the global South seeking open, affordable and development-focused solutions,” Ashwini Vaishnaw said in an email interview with The Associated Press. This week, New Delhi will host a major AI Impact Summit, attracting at least 20 global leaders and tech industry luminaries.
In October, Google announced that it would invest US$15 billion in India over the next five years to establish the first artificial intelligence center in the South Asian country. Two months later, Microsoft announced its largest-ever investment in Asia at $17.5 billion to advance cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure in India over the next four years.
Amazon has also pledged to invest $35 billion in India by 2030 to expand its business, especially artificial intelligence-driven digitization. The cumulative investments are part of a $200 billion pipeline in the pipeline that New Delhi hopes will flow in.
Vishno said India’s proposition is that AI must have a measurable impact at scale and not remain an elitist technology.
“A trustworthy AI ecosystem will attract investment and accelerate adoption,” he said, adding that a core pillar of India’s strategy to harness AI is building infrastructure.
The government recently announced a long-term tax holiday for data centers in the hope of providing policy certainty and attracting global capital.
Vaishnaw said the government already operates a shared computing facility with more than 38,000 graphics processing units (GPUs), giving startups, researchers and public institutions access to high-end computing without high upfront costs.
“AI cannot become exclusive. It must remain broadly accessible,” he said.
