Overview
- India's prime minister met Amazon CEO Andy Jassy last week and welcomed a reported $48 billion investment pledge for the country, with about $21 billion earmarked for AI and cloud infrastructure.
- In May SoftBank announced plans for roughly 3.1 gigawatts of AI data center capacity in France and its CEO said President Macron personally intervened to secure government support for the larger project.
- During visits and summits this year leaders secured semiconductor deals and commitments, including ASML agreeing to supply lithography tools for a Tata Electronics fab and Intel signaling interest as a buyer.
- Both governments are offering concrete incentives to win projects, with France highlighting steady nuclear-powered electricity and state support and India offering long-term tax breaks to hyperscalers.
- Despite the inflows, India still lacks domestic production of cutting-edge chips and a frontier-scale AI model, leaving it dependent on foreign hardware and software and exposed to export controls that could shape its next steps.