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Reliance to Invest ~$11bn Over Seven Years, Build Sovereign AI Backbone in Jamnagar

June 25, 2026 at 09:31 EDT

Infra & Chips
Sales & Business
Funding & M&A

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani has unveiled plans for the company and its Jio unit to invest ₹10 lakh crore (around $11–12bn) in AI over the next seven years, building India's "sovereign AI backbone" in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Through a new entity, Reliance Intelligence, the group will first bring 120 MW of AI infrastructure online by the end of 2026.

February 2026 · India AI Impact Summit

Reliance Bets $110 Billion on India's "Sovereign AI" — But the Tech Stays Western

Mukesh Ambani vows India will be "not a mere consumer but a creator and global leader" in AI, pledging Rs 10 lakh crore over seven years. Yet foundation models and high-end GPUs still lean on OpenAI, Google and Nvidia.

~$110B

AI infrastructure spend over 7 years (Rs 10 lakh crore)

168MW

Jamnagar data centre with Meta (Phase 1)

10GW

Of green energy supply planned

100%

Renewable power · zero freshwater (seawater cooling)

India's AI market projection

From ~$9B (2023) to ~$22B by 2027 — roughly 2.4× growth

~$9B

2023

~$22B

2027

Affordable, local-language AI is positioned as the key to mass adoption — deeply embedded into Jio's calls, apps and home services.

The unresolved dependency

"Sovereign AI" — still built on foreign foundations

Foundation models

Reliant on OpenAI & Google; domestic field is thin — Sarvam (Indian languages) a rare bright spot

High-end GPUs

Still depend on Nvidia silicon

Domestic rival

Adani: $100B+ AI data centre plan, scaling 2GW → 5GW by 2035

Anticipation

A "sovereign AI backbone" and affordable AI for every Indian
Edge advantage from Jio's telecom network + giant Jamnagar campus
100% renewable, zero-freshwater data centre design

Doubts

Execution risk — most assessments concern the plan stage
Continued Western tech dependence undercuts "sovereignty"
Deep integration may make opt-out choices hard to find

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