What to expect as tech CEOs head to New Delhi
US President Joe Biden watches Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speak during a meeting with top officials and CEOs of American and Indian companies in the East Room of the White House in Washington DC on June 23, 2023.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Major technology executives are flocking to India for an artificial intelligence summit in New Delhi this week, as the world’s largest companies aim to expand their presence in what is seen as a critical growth market.
This week, India will host the AI Impact Summit, the latest in a series of government-hosted events focusing on AI, taking place in the UK, South Korea and France.
Notable attendees include Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai. Anthropic boss Dario Amodei and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis are also scheduled to be there.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will walk the red carpet, where tech CEOs will happily walk as the country offers a lucrative market of young, tech-forward consumers and a huge talent pool that could be key to the continued development of artificial intelligence.
“The summit… is a great validation of the potential of the market. Everyone is coming because they understand that this is the place to go and India cannot be ignored,” said Lalit Ahuja, CEO of ANSR, a company in India that helps businesses manage offshore teams.
The AI Impact Summit also comes at a time when relations between India and the US are resetting as the two countries move towards a trade deal.
India strives to become a major technology hub
The Modi government has made its intentions clear over the last few years; He wants India to become one of the world’s technology superpowers. India approved Semiconductor project worth $18 billion, aiming to create a domestic supply chain.
The government has forced major companies, including Apple, to produce most of their products in India.
As venture capital investors invest in startups in India, the country’s stock markets are seeing a surge in initial public offerings.
Counterpoint Research partner Neil Shah said the government’s support for technology was “a red carpet for multinationals to establish, expand and diversify their global operations”.
And while the door is open, major firms are likely to announce major investments in India this week, while New Delhi will talk about opportunities in the country.
AI focus
It’s no surprise that AI is a big focus from three perspectives: infrastructure, users, and talent.
As demand continues to grow and tech companies require more computing power, major infrastructure investment deals around AI data centers are likely to be announced. Amazon, Microsoft and Intel in December Commitments to build AI infrastructure and chips in India.
India is one of OpenAI’s key markets for ChatGPT, alongside rivals such as Perplexity offering its products for free in the race to acquire users and gain potentially lucrative data for further training.
These US chatbots have no major domestic competitors, offering a good opportunity to acquire users with a tech-savvy user base.
Access to talent is also attractive. India is an “AI talent factory,” Tech Mahindra’s chief technology officer Sham Arora told CNBC’s “Inside India” last week.
An increasing number of Global Competence Centers (GCCs) are being created in India. These are effective offshore centers established on behalf of international companies.
According to ANSR, which helps companies establish GCCs, more than 60% of GCCs established in the last 2 years focus on artificial intelligence, data, digital engineering or product development. ANSR said it is estimated that more than 80 percent of GCCs expected to be established in the next six to eight months will be AI-led.
But tech giants are not just looking to India for engineering talent, a growing number of firms are also relying on the country for senior leadership roles. ANSR’s Ahuja said the “AI principal” role is becoming more common.
“And the fact that the talent is available… these positions are now being created in India,” Ahuja said.
