Google will build new subsea cables from its planned AI hub in India and other locations, the US company announced on Wednesday, as New Delhi hosts a major artificial intelligence summit.
Global tech giants are racing to unveil deals and investments in the country this week, as world leaders and top industry figures gather to discuss the opportunities and challenges that AI poses.
Google’s announcement follows its October commitment to spend $15 billion over five years to construct its largest AI infrastructure hub outside the United States, in Visakhapatnam, an Indian port city in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh, also known as Vizag.
The US giant said it would build “three subsea paths connecting India to Singapore, South Africa, and Australia”.
It will also create “four strategic fiber-optic routes that bolster network resilience and capacity between the United States, India, and multiple locations across the Southern Hemisphere”.
These would include a direct cable connecting Vizag to South Africa, and another to Singapore, Google said in a statement.
And India’s financial capital Mumbai would be connected to Western Australia, it added.
Google said the initiative was part of a project launched in collaboration with regional partners called “America-India Connect” that will “establish a new international subsea gateway in Visakhapatnam”.
“These investments will establish Vizag as a major international subsea gateway, adding vital diversity from existing landings in Mumbai and Chennai,” the company added.
“For a nation of more than one billion people, this will increase the resilience of India’s digital backbone and improve economic security.”
Among other deals announced Wednesday, US chip titan Nvidia said it was partnering with three Indian cloud computing companies to provide advanced processors for data centres that can train and run AI systems.
Last year India leapt to third place — overtaking South Korea and Japan — in an annual global ranking of AI competitiveness calculated by Stanford University researchers.
But despite plans for large-scale infrastructure and grand ambitions for innovation, experts say the South Asian country has a long way to go before it can rival the United States and China.
“India’s going to have an extraordinary trajectory with AI and we want to be a partner,” Sundar Pichai, head of Google’s parent company Alphabet, told reporters in New Delhi.
The world’s most populous country is “uniquely positioned at this moment” to push ahead in the sector, he said, adding that India was one of the largest markets for Google’s Gemini AI chatbot.
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