The government plans to extend industry-approved curricula and infrastructure to 500 universities to build an AI talent pipeline.

Global South’s First AI Mega-Summit: Vaishnaw Announces USD 70 Billion Infrastructure Boom

Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on Friday that nearly USD 70 billion is already being invested in India’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Speaking ahead of the India AI Impact Summit-2026, the minister indicated that this investment could potentially double by the end of the conference, which is scheduled for February 16-20 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi.

This marks the first time the summit is being hosted in the Global South. The event is set to host over 15 heads of state, 40 ministers, and 100 CEOs, with global giants like OpenAI, Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, and the Gates Foundation expected to participate.

The summit will be structured around seven core pillars: building human capital, fostering inclusion for social empowerment, and ensuring safe and trusted AI. The discussions will further focus on science-driven discovery, resilience, innovation and efficiency, democratising AI resources, and leveraging AI for economic growth and social good."

Minister Vaishnaw highlighted that India’s IT sector is rapidly shifting from traditional software development to AI-driven solutions, with over 200 sector-specific AI models already developed by Indian teams.

To sustain this growth, the government plans to extend industry-approved curricula and infrastructure to 500 universities to build an AI talent pipeline. Vaishnaw also noted that India’s green energy progress is supporting this tech boom, with nearly 50 per cent of the country’s power generation capacity now coming from green sources.

Source: The Tribune