India's AI leap: Reliance pledges Rs 10 lakh crore for sovereign compute and high-skill jobs

New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani on Thursday announced that Reliance Industries and its telecom arm Jio will jointly invest up to Rs 10 lakh crore in artificial intelligence (AI) over the next seven years, marking one of India’s largest AI infrastructure investments to date.

Addressing the AI India Impact Summit in the national capital, the Reliance Industries chairman said the investment is aimed at building long-term, nation-building capabilities rather than chasing short-term valuations.

“This is not a speculative investment. It is not for chasing valuation. This is patient, disciplined, nation-building capital — designed to create durable economic value and strategic resilience for decades to come,” Ambani said.

Reliance AI investment: Focus on sovereign compute infrastructure

Ambani said the biggest constraint in AI development today is not talent but the scarcity and high cost of computing power. To address this, Jio Intelligence will build India’s sovereign AI compute infrastructure through three major initiatives.

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Gigawatt-scale AI data centres

Reliance has begun constructing multi-gigawatt, AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar. Over 120 MW of capacity is expected to come online in the second half of 2026, with a clear roadmap to gigawatt-scale compute for AI model training and large-scale inference.

Green energy advantage

The company will leverage up to 10 GW of surplus green power, anchored by solar capacity in Kutch and Andhra Pradesh, to power its AI infrastructure sustainably.

Nationwide edge computing network

An edge-computing layer integrated with Jio’s telecom network will deliver low-latency, responsive and affordable AI services across India.

“From kirana stores to clinics, from classrooms to farms, intelligence will live at the edge. Our goal is to make intelligence as ubiquitous as connectivity,” Ambani said, underscoring the democratisation of AI in India.

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AI for manufacturing, agriculture and small businesses

Ambani said Jio Intelligence will prioritise AI solutions for deep-tech innovation, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, small businesses and the informal sector — extending beyond large enterprises.

He emphasised that Jio Intelligence will function as a productivity and efficiency multiplier rather than merely a search or query tool.

A key objective is to develop world-leading multilingual AI capabilities across Indian languages, enabling farmers, artisans and students to interact with AI in their mother tongue. “When farmers and artisans speak to AI in their own words, and students learn in their own mother tongue — this is not convenience. This is inclusion,” he said.

Reliance will also embed core principles of data residency, cybersecurity, responsible AI and trust into its AI ecosystem.

AI to create high-skill jobs in India

Rejecting concerns that AI will displace workers, Ambani said the Reliance Group intends to demonstrate that artificial intelligence will generate new high-skill employment opportunities in India.

“The AI story has shifted from 'Who has the best model' to 'Who can build the strongest ecosystem for speed and scale of usage,” he said.

Reliance plans to build a broad AI partnership ecosystem involving Indian enterprises, start-ups, IITs, IISc and research institutions. It will collaborate with industrial groups to integrate AI across manufacturing, logistics, energy, finance, retail, agriculture and healthcare.

The company will also support start-ups with affordable compute access and co-development platforms, aiming to drive breakthroughs in compute architecture, foundation models and energy efficiency.

Ambani added that Reliance will partner with leading global technology companies as co-architects of what he described as a “new AI century”.

IANS