At the NVIDIA AI Summit 2024 held in Mumbai, Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, announced a groundbreaking partnership between Reliance Industries and NVIDIA to build advanced artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in India. The collaboration is set to position India as a global hub for AI development and services.
Speaking at the summit, Huang outlined the key components necessary for AI leadership. He said, "In order to lead in artificial intelligence, you need to have AI model technology that India already has, you need to have data, and the last thing you need is AI infrastructure. We are announcing that Reliance and NVIDIA are partnering to build AI infrastructure here in India. One of India’s greatest advantages is its large population of users, which helps create a powerful flywheel for AI innovation."
Mukesh Ambani, Managing Director of Reliance Industries, expressed optimism about India's future in AI, stating, "India will be one of the biggest intelligence markets. It is not only our aspiration, but I think it is just the raw gene pool and the raw gene power that exists in India—the youth power that exists in India that drives intelligence. Hopefully, once we drive intelligence for our domestic markets, we will use intelligent services beyond software to integrate with the rest of the world."
Ambani also underscored India's evolving role in the global economy, saying, "Indians will now not only export CEOs to the world's largest companies, but hundreds of millions of Indians will deliver AI services to help build a better world."
Jensen Huang echoed Ambani’s views, noting India’s transformation from a software-exporting nation to a future AI leader. "India used to be a country that produced software, exporting it around the world. In the future, India is going to export AI. I hope to partner with all of you to enable India to be at the center of this new industrial revolution," Huang said.
Ambani characterized this shift as a move from a knowledge revolution to an "intelligence revolution" that will benefit the global population. "What you, Jensen, are driving is the knowledge revolution, converting it into what I call the intelligence revolution. That drives prosperity across the world for all 8 billion people. I think what we are at the doorstep of is the new intelligence age."
Quoting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ambani reiterated the importance of India's youthful demographic, stating, "As our Prime Minister has said, this is a new aspirational India. We are among the only countries in the world where the average age of 1.4 billion Indians is below 35."
Ambani added that India’s aspirations are fueled not only by cutting-edge AI technology but by a strong sense of ambition: "What is driving our economy is not only new technology—AI—but also aspirations. I believe that Prime Minister Modi’s leadership in terms of converting India to a premier digital society has been vital and continues to drive activity at the ground level."
He also praised India’s advanced digital infrastructure, which has been critical to its growth. "We are fortunate to have the necessary infrastructure. Apart from the U.S. and China, India has the best digital connectivity infrastructure—4G, 5G, and broadband. Our digital connectivity infrastructure is equivalent to roads, and it is what makes India fast becoming an innovation hub for the world, rather than just a manufacturing hub," Ambani said.
