Mukesh Ambani announced on Thursday that Reliance Industries and its digital arm Jio will invest ₹10 lakh crore over the next seven years to drive India’s artificial intelligence transformation. The investment will cover sovereign compute infrastructure, green energy, and AI applications.
Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Ambani said, “Jio will now connect India to the intelligence era… India cannot afford to rent intelligence. We will reduce the cost of intelligence as dramatically as we did the cost of data.”
He stressed that the investment is long-term and nation-building, not speculative or aimed at valuations: “This is patient, disciplined capital designed to create durable economic value and strategic resilience for decades.”
Ambani outlined a three-part strategy to transition India from the internet era to the intelligence era. First, Jio will deliver intelligence to every citizen, sector, and government service. Second, it will establish India’s sovereign compute infrastructure through three initiatives:
- Gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centres – Construction has begun at Jamnagar, with 120MW expected online by late 2026 and a roadmap to reach gigawatt-scale capacity for AI training.
- Green energy integration – Reliance’s in-house clean energy portfolio provides up to 10GW of surplus solar power in Kutch and Andhra Pradesh to power AI infrastructure sustainably.
- Distributed edge compute network – A nationwide edge layer integrated with Jio’s network will provide low-latency, responsive, and affordable AI close to where people live, work, and learn.
Ambani highlighted that the biggest current limitation in AI is not talent but the scarcity and high cost of compute, reinforcing that “India cannot afford to rent intelligence.”
He also introduced “Jio AI Bharat”, a multilingual AI platform designed to serve farmers, artisans, and students in their native languages. Emphasising job creation, he noted, “AI will not take jobs; it will create jobs and high-skilled work opportunities,” and Jio will collaborate with leading global technology companies to realise this vision.
The overarching goal, Ambani said, is to make AI as ubiquitous and accessible as connectivity, supporting deep-tech innovation, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, and the informal sector across India.
