US tech giants deepen AI, digital investments in India

American tech giants are ramping up investments in India, with Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL) committing $15 billion over five years (2026–2030) to build a state-of-the-art data center and artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This facility will bolster the IndiaAI Mission, provide advanced compute infrastructure, and support workforce development across startups and the tech sector. This marks Google’s largest investment in India to date and aligns with the government’s Viksit Bharat (Developed India) ambition, which intends to accelerate the expansion of AI-driven services.

Meanwhile, AI firm Anthropic will open a Bengaluru office in southern India by early 2026—its second in Asia after Tokyo—highlighting the country’s rising demand for its AI assistant, Claude, whose usage has grown fivefold since June. CEO Dario Amodei met Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently to discuss collaborations in education, healthcare, and agriculture.

Simultaneously, California-based Qualcomm is exploring deeper partnerships that are aligned with the IndiaAI Mission. President Cristiano Amon met Modi recently to discuss AI integration across sectors like smartphones, personal computers, automotive, and industry. Qualcomm is also working with local developers to push on-device AI, leveraging the growing compute power in local hardware for real-time intelligence.

“A transformative milestone for Bharat’s [India’s] AI-powered & digital economy…With such initiatives, Bharat is laying the foundations to be a leader and a trusted partner in the AI era. Thanks to all partners who are joining hands in achieving the target of Viksit Bharat by 2047, powered by AI, innovation and inclusive growth,” said Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a LinkedIn post.

“Google has committed a USD 15 billion investment to establish a world-class Data Centre and AI Hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh…The project includes a new international subsea landing in Visakhapatnam, strengthening India’s role as a global digital gateway. Andaman & Nicobar Islands’ strategic location can be utilised to position it as a strategic hub for global data transfer. Vizag–Sittwe subsea link via Myanmar can be a game changer for enhancing digital connectivity to the North-East,” Vaishnaw added.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands comprise 572 islands, but only 38 are inhabited. They are surrounded by the Bay of Bengal, a significant part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and cities like Visakhapatnam are ideal locations for data center infrastructure and undersea cable networks, connecting Asia, Africa, and beyond.

“This hub combines gigawatt-scale compute capacity, a new international subsea gateway, and large-scale energy infrastructure. Through it, we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation and driving growth across the country,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on X.

Pichai is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, the oldest IIT established in 1951 by the government. The IITs are premier, autonomous public educational institutes that produce some of the best minds in engineering and technology every year.

Vaishnaw stated that the Google AI hub would significantly advance the goals of the IndiaAI Mission. The minister also urged Google to help in large-scale reskilling and upskilling of IT professionals amid rapid AI-driven changes. This is significant because NITI Aayog, the central public policy think tank of the government, recently pointed out that the labor market overhaul will be at the center of AI adoption. As AI technologies mature, they are expected to disrupt global employment, with estimates suggesting that as much as 40% of current jobs worldwide are looking at some level of AI-powered automation.

India’s Economic Survey 2024-2025 pointed out that while AI is set to introduce automation of economically valuable tasks across sectors, it could also lead to significant job displacement, particularly affecting workers in the middle and lower wage brackets.

India is one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the world, motivating American tech giants to scale up investments in the South Asian powerhouse. With 1.4 billion people, the world’s fourth-largest economy offers a significant market for smartphones, cloud services, and AI tools. It also produces a large, highly skilled workforce in software development, data science, and engineering, influencing American tech companies like Google, Anthropic, and Qualcomm to cash in on this talent to build AI capabilities and support global operations. Moreover, with initiatives like the IndiaAI Mission, the federal government encourages global partnerships, making the country attractive for long-term investment in AI innovation.

Google to build AI hub in India with Adani, Airtel

The Google AI hub is expected to open new frontiers for AI-first data center infrastructure, with investments in new subsea cable networks powered by clean energy. It is expected to create a new era of AI-driven services and significant employment and economic opportunities across the country. Developed with partners including AdaniConnex, the data center arm of the Adani conglomerate, and telecom operator Airtel, it will be built with the same cutting-edge infrastructure that powers Google products like Search, Workspace, and YouTube, Vaishnaw said in a statement. Once operational, the new campus will become part of Google’s global AI data center network, which currently spans 12 countries.

India’s data center market is expected to grow from $4.5 billion in 2023 to $11.6 billion by 2032 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.98%, according to the Economic Survey 2024-2025. Data centers are crucial for AI because they provide the immense computational power, storage, and fast networking needed to train and deploy advanced AI systems.

“This digital infrastructure will go a long way in meeting the goals of our IndiaAI Mission…,” Vaishnaw stated. He welcomed Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPUs) to compete with Nvidia’s (NASDAQ: NVDA) Graphics Processing Unit (GPUs) as part of the common compute infrastructure under the India AI Mission.

The Google AI Hub in Visakhapatnam includes a “purpose-built data center campus,” which would add gigawatt-scale compute capacity to help meet demand for digital services not only in India but across the world. The AI infrastructure is also expected to deliver “high-performance and low-latency services” that businesses need to scale their own AI-powered solutions. This is expected to benefit large enterprises like MakeMyTrip, Meesho, and TCS, as well as local AI startups like CoRover, Glance, Invideo AI, Sarvam, among others, the statement said.

“By delivering industry-leading AI infrastructure at scale, we are enabling businesses to innovate faster and creating meaningful opportunities for inclusive growth. This partnership reflects our shared commitment with the Indian and U.S. governments to harness AI responsibly and drive transformative impact for society,” stated Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.

“The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are strategically located. Singapore is already overburdened. Why can’t we make Andaman the next major hub for global internet data transfer? From the Government of India’s perspective, we will provide full support for this initiative,” the minister added.

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Anthropic to scale Claude, open India office by 2026

Meanwhile, AI major Anthropic, is expanding to cater to “India’s rapidly growing AI ecosystem.” CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei was in India recently to meet government officials and enterprise partners.

“India is compelling because of the scale of its technical talent and the commitment from the Indian government to ensure the benefits of artificial intelligence reach all areas of society, not just concentrated pockets,” Dario said in a statement. “There is deep alignment between the challenges India is tackling and our mission as a company, from deploying AI across diverse languages and contexts to building frameworks for responsible governance. India’s AI ecosystem will play a central role in how AI develops globally and democratically, and we’re looking forward to working with organizations in India to pave a path for how beneficial AI can be scaled in a way that serves everyone.”

Anthropic said it would focus on utilizing AI in key sectors like education, healthcare, and agriculture. It is also looking to partner with enterprises, nonprofits, and startups. The Bengaluru office, due to open in 2026, will also support India’s “entrepreneurial ecosystem as it develops the next generation of dynamic companies.”

India’s usage of Claude, Anthropic’s GenAI assistant, ranks second globally next only to the U.S., according to the company’s Economic Index Report. With Claude Code experiencing a tenfold increase in global usage within just three months of its May release, Anthropic said it sees strong potential for it to significantly boost the growth of India’s IT services sector, particularly those focused on international markets.

“Our expansion comes at a pivotal moment when Indian enterprises and startups are seeking AI models they can trust,” said Paul Smith, Anthropic’s chief commercial officer. “They need systems that combine frontier performance with the safety and reliability required to support critical business operations at the massive scale that they operate. We see remarkable promise in India’s innovation ecosystem—the vibrant startup and developer communities alongside Indian enterprises are building solutions that impact millions of lives globally.”

Amodei recently met Modi to discuss the company’s expansion in India and the growing adoption of its AI tools. Modi welcomed Anthropic’s expansion and said that the partnership will enhance India’s AI capabilities across key sectors, including education, healthcare, and agriculture.

“India’s vibrant tech ecosystem and talented youth are driving AI innovation that is human-centric and responsible. We welcome Anthropic’s expansion and look forward to working together to harness AI for growth across key sectors,” Modi wrote in an X post.

Anthropic said it also intends to advance Claude’s Indic language capabilities and will introduce improved performance in Hindi and nearly a dozen other languages, including Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, and Urdu. This is expected to “strengthen public sector adoption and enable broader access to AI” across India.

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Qualcomm CEO meets Modi to boost AI, tech ties with India

Riding the AI wave, Cristiano R. Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm, the California-based tech major, recently met Modi to discuss avenues for strengthening Qualcomm’s collaboration with India that align with the IndiaAI Mission. They also discussed advancements in AI, innovation, and skilling.

“Great to see Qualcomm’s commitment towards India’s semiconductor and AI missions. India offers unmatched talent and scale to build technologies that will shape our collective future,” Modi wrote on X.

Amon emphasized the potential for building a robust AI ecosystem in India spanning smartphones, personal computers, smart wearables, automotive technologies, and industrial applications.

“Thank you PM @narendramodi for the great conversation on fostering a broader partnership between @Qualcomm and India in support of the IndiaAI and India Semiconductor Missions, as well as the transition to 6G. We are encouraged by the opportunities to develop an Indian ecosystem across AI smartphones, PCs, smart glasses, auto, industrial and more,” Amon wrote in an X post.

Qualcomm is reportedly aiming to move beyond being just a technology provider to actively contributing to developing a domestic innovation infrastructure. In addition to its work on devices, the company is partnering with the government and local developers to drive advancements in edge AI while enabling AI processing to occur directly on devices instead of relying on cloud infrastructure.

“Devices today have huge compute capabilities. On-device AI is a big opportunity for India,” said Qualcomm India President, Savi Soin.

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