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India Courts AI Giants: $1.1B Fund & Top Execs Attend Summit
20 Feb
Summary
- India is hosting a four-day AI Impact Summit with 250,000 expected visitors.
- A new $1.1 billion state-backed fund will invest in AI and advanced manufacturing startups.
- Sam Altman notes India's 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, second only to the U.S.
India is hosting a four-day AI Impact Summit this week, aiming to attract substantial AI investment. The event is drawing executives from leading AI labs and Big Tech firms, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Nvidia, Microsoft, and Google, alongside several heads of state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Key announcements include India earmarking $1.1 billion for a state-backed venture capital fund to support AI and advanced manufacturing startups. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that India has over 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, ranking second globally. Blackstone acquired a majority stake in Indian AI startup Neysa as part of a $600 million fundraise, with other investors also participating.
Further investments include Bengaluru-based C2i raising $15 million for its data center power solutions. HCL CEO Vineet Nayyar commented that Indian IT companies will prioritize profits over job creation, a sentiment echoing concerns about AI's impact on the IT services sector. Vinod Khosla predicted IT services and BPO industries could "almost completely disappear" within five years due to AI.
AMD is collaborating with TCS on rack-scale AI infrastructure. Anthropic is establishing its first Indian office in Bengaluru and partnering with Infosys to deploy its Claude models and tools to Indian enterprises, starting with the telecommunications sector. Indian AI company Sarvam teased its upcoming smart glasses, Sarvam Kaze, and has released several AI models.
