What 3 US tech giants announced after Modi’s ‘hi-tech handshake’
Amazon to invest additional $15b, Google $10b; Microsoft pledged technological cooperation
US tech giants Amazon, Google and Microsoft have announced capital investments and technological cooperation for the growth of Indian technology in India following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s just-concluded state visit to the western superpower.
Amazon has committed to investing an additional $15 billion in India over the next seven years, which will take the company’s total India investment across all businesses to $26 billion.
Google is investing $10 billion in India’s digitisation fund.
Microsoft expressed its commitment to the growth of Indian technology, emphasising the impact it will have not only in India but also in global markets, according to media reports.
Modi met captains of industry from various fields, including semiconductors, manufacturing, space, and start-ups, at the “hi-tech handshake” mega event at the White House in Washington DC on his last day of the US visit.
“In his remarks, Prime Minister underlined the immense potential of harnessing India-US tech cooperation for socio-economic growth. He also applauded the contribution of India’s talented youth in fostering a culture of innovation. President Biden called on CEOs to help expand India-US tech partnership to new fields including biotechnology and quantum,” a government release on the event said.
Among those present were Apple’s Tim Cook, Revathi Advaithi, CEO, Flex, Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI, Mark Douglas, President and CEO, FMC Corporation, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai.
Search engine giant Google will set up its global fintech operation centre at GIFT City in PM Modi’s home state Gujarat, reports the Hindustan Times.
“It was an honour to meet PM Modi during the historic visit to the US. We shared with the Prime Minister that Google is investing $10 billion in India’s digitisation fund. We are announcing the opening of our global fintech operation centre in GIFT City, Gujarat. PM’s vision for Digital India was way ahead of his time I now see it as a blueprint that other countries are looking to do,” Pichai said after meeting the prime minister.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy took to twitter to announce that the e-commerce giant will invest a total of $26 billion in India by 2030.
“Productive meeting with Prime Minister @NarendraModi. Discussed Amazon’s commitment to invest $26B in India by 2030; working together we will support startups, create jobs, enable exports, and empower individuals and small businesses to compete globally.”
Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella in his meeting with the Prime Minister discussed the power of technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence, to help improve the lives of Indians, reports NDTV.
A Microsoft statement after the meeting said, “India is home to one of the most vibrant developer and start-up ecosystems in the world, and Microsoft remains deeply committed to the growth of Indian technology – that will impact both India and markets across the globe.”
Microsoft had last month launched Jugalbandi, a new generative AI-driven chatbot on mobile devices for government assistance, in India.
It can understand questions in multiple languages, whether spoken or typed. It retrieves information on relevant programs – usually written in English – and relays it back in local language.
The Jugalbandi AI assistant is powered by language models from AI4Bharat, a government-backed initiative, and reasoning models from Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
Another key announcement, earlier during the PM’s visit, was Micron Technology, along with India Semiconductor Mission, saying it will build a semiconductor assembly and test facility in Gujarat at a cost of $2.75 billion.
In space sector, India has signed the Artemis Accords for space exploration. By the end of this year, NASA and ISRO are developing a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation.
PM Modi also met with SpaceX chief Elon Musk in New York on Tuesday.
