US President Joe Biden appears to be like on as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks throughout a gathering with senior officers and CEOs of American and Indian corporations, within the East Room the White Home in Washington, DC, on June 23, 2023.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Photos
The CEOs of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft acquired a wholesome does of facetime with the chief of India this week, who was within the U.S. to satisfy with President Biden in addition to different political and enterprise leaders.
The tech firm execs spent over an hour with Prime Minister Narendra Modi contained in the White Home on Friday, discussing alternatives and challenges in investing in India. Earlier within the week, Modi met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
After the assembly concluded on the White Home, Apple CEO Tim Cook dinner advised CNBC that India represents a “enormous alternative.” When requested if Apple would proceed increasing there, he pointed to the 2 retail shops the corporate opened in India earlier this 12 months.
It was the primary state go to to the U.S. for Modi, who turned prime minister in 2014. Following Friday’s assembly, the White Home mentioned Google might be working with the Indian Institute of Science on open sourcing of speech knowledge for synthetic intelligence fashions.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was additionally in Washington for the occasion. Two folks with data of the matter mentioned Altman and Modi mentioned alternatives to collaborate on AI.
Hemant Taneja, CEO of enterprise capital agency Basic Catalyst, attended the roundtable. Forward of the assembly, he shared with CNBC his intentions to seek out alignment on efforts to streamline know-how switch guidelines between the U.S. and India, which has overtaken China because the world’s most-populous nation. U.S. relations with China have grow to be more and more strained up to now few years.
We’re in a digital chilly struggle with China, and this strategy will in the end foster an environment of elevated cooperation,” Taneja mentioned.
Massive semiconductor corporations like Micron and Utilized Supplies used Modi’s go to as a chance to announce plans to make vital investments India. Micron is aiming to open a facility in Modi’s dwelling state of Gujarat because the broader chip trade appears to be like for tactics to diversify its provide chain. Lam Analysis revealed plans to coach 60,000 Indian engineers.
Entry to extremely expert labor and outdated labor legal guidelines are challenges for American companies with regards to staffing up in India.
“U.S. corporations in India have had difficulties over time with regulatory uncertainty in addition to challenges in relocating or terminating workers,” mentioned Kenneth Juster, former U.S. Ambassador to India. Juster, who’s now a distinguished fellow on the Council on Overseas Relations, mentioned he stays optimistic, including that India has pledged to ease the method for international corporations to do enterprise there.
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