Adani targets $250 billion AI ecosystem with $100 billion investment

Adani Group on Tuesday announced plans to invest $100 billion by 2035 to develop “hyperscale AI-ready data centres”, in a move that aligns with New Delhi’s push to position India as a global artificial intelligence hub.

The announcement comes as India hosts a five-day global AI summit, where discussions will cover issues including job disruption and child safety.

The summit will bring together 20 national leaders and 45 ministerial-level delegations. The key day of the event is scheduled for Thursday. Technology leaders attending include Sam Altman of OpenAI and Google chief executive Sundar Pichai.

In a statement, the Adani Group said the $100 billion investment would catalyse an additional $150 billion in spending across “server manufacturing, advanced electrical infrastructure, sovereign cloud platforms and supporting industries”.

“Together, this is projected to create a $250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India over the decade,” the statement said.

The ports-to-power conglomerate said its vision is “anchored” by partnerships with Google, which aims to establish a large data centre campus in the coastal city of Visakhapatnam, and Microsoft.

“The Adani Group is also in discussion with other major players seeking to establish large scale campuses across India thereby further cementing its position as India’s premier AI infrastructure partner,” the statement added.

Last year, India rose to third place in an annual global ranking of AI competitiveness calculated by Stanford University researchers, overtaking South Korea and Japan.

However, despite large-scale infrastructure plans and ambitions for innovation, experts say India still has a long way to go before it can rival the United States and China in artificial intelligence.