Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s India AI Bet: “Build The Local AI Economy”

• Huang said India’s established IT industry gives local companies and startups a strong foundation to benefit from rapid AI advances.

• Move faster: His message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was clear: “AI is moving fast, so every country has to move faster.”

• AI powerhouse ambition: Huang has repeatedly highlighted India’s potential to become a major AI power by leveraging its talent, data, energy, infrastructure and large IT workforce.

• Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday praised India’s growing technology ecosystem and said the country’s local companies and startups are well placed to take advantage of the rapid advances in artificial intelligence.

Speaking about India’s role in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, Huang said the country’s established IT industry provides a strong foundation for the next phase of technological development.

"India is one of the world's leading IT industries. And this is the beginning of a new IT platform. And I had the benefit of seeing Modi ji a decade ago talking about AI.

And I'm really anxious to see and very excited to see the local companies and the local startups starting in India, starting to take advantage of the technology, contributing to the technology, and then building the local AI economy," he said on the sidelines of the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Huang also highlighted the need for countries to accelerate their efforts as AI technology develops at a rapid pace.

Asked what his suggestion would be to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on AI, Huang said: "AI is moving fast, so every country has to move faster."

His comments come as India seeks to expand its domestic artificial intelligence capabilities, with PM Modi announcing AI-skills training for 10 million young Indians during his Independence Day speech this year.

During the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi in February, PM Modi had laid out an ambitions roadmap for the adoption of AI in the country. “India has the talent and entrepreneurial energy to become an AI powerhouse, not just as a consumer, but a creator," he had said.

Huang has repeatedly highlighted India's potential to emerge as a major AI power.

In 2023, he said India could become the world's largest exporter of AI, arguing that its vast IT workforce could be reskilled for the technology.

In 2024, he said India should “manufacture its own AI” rather than export data and import intelligence, while describing the country as having the talent, data, energy and infrastructure needed to build AI.

Huang has also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with recognising the importance of AI early, recalling that Modi had invited him to address his cabinet on the technology years before it became a global priority.