The influential Indian enterprise, Adani, has announced an investment reaching up to $100 billion for AI datacenters designed to strengthen India’s technological sovereignty. These developments will proceed more deliberately than the accelerated expansion strategies of global tech giants. The initiative involves the creation of renewable-energy-powered, large-scale AI-ready datacenters, aiming for completion by 2035.

India’s labor cost advantages mean the hefty financial outlay can achieve substantial progress. Yet, the proposed timeline remains conservative compared to the $635 billion Big Tech aims to shell out on AI infrastructure within 2026 alone. Additionally, tech behemoths such as AWS, Google, and Microsoft have committed $67 billion towards AI-driven developments in the region over the coming years.

Despite not having secured locations for its facilities, Adani plans to optimize them for extensive compute clusters handling leading-edge AI tasks, equipped with advanced cooling systems and efficient power management. The company’s vision includes hosting resources for Indian-language large language models and pivotal national data projects.

Concurrent with Adani’s announcement, India’s government convened an AI Impact Summit, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized AI’s transformative potential while emphasizing its role as an opportunity enhancer rather than a disrupter of livelihoods. He outlined a future where India ranks among the top AI creators, fostering startups and innovation.

Minister of Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted the National AI Mission’s current resource pool, including thousands of GPUs available for local businesses, with plans to expand further. Nvidia is expected to provide substantial hardware support, amid Adani’s venture facing competition from other cloud infrastructure players.

The road for Adani involves navigating local rivalry and awaiting the significant investments from established tech firms.