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I too heard Rajiv Malhotra talk about "in-kind-investment" rather than "cash investment" which India does not have. E.g., India could provide labor and share the labor costs in return for some equity in the Gulf projects mentioned below.
An AI summary:
Multiple Gulf states are pursuing major AI partnerships with the United States, including investments in AI centers within their own borders and reciprocal investments in U.S. AI infrastructure. Key players in these partnerships include the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, with involvement from U.S. tech giants such as Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Oracle.
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Massive AI campus: The UAE and the U.S. announced a joint initiative in May 2025 to build a 5-gigawatt AI campus in Abu Dhabi, which is planned to be the largest outside of the U.S..
This campus will be built by the Emirati state-linked tech firm G42 and operated in partnership with U.S. firms like OpenAI, Oracle, and Nvidia.
It will serve the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia markets.
Reciprocal investment: As part of the agreement, the UAE has committed to investing in U.S.-based AI infrastructure. In January 2025, G42 and other partners committed $500 billion to the U.S.-based Stargate project.
Strategic U.S. partnerships:
Microsoft and G42: In April 2024, Microsoft invested $1.5 billion in G42 to accelerate AI development and global expansion.
Qualcomm: The Abu Dhabi Investment Office and Qualcomm have partnered to establish an advanced engineering center in Abu Dhabi focused on AI and data center solutions.
Cerebras: G42 has a strategic partnership with California-based Cerebras Systems and has been co-developing the Condor Galaxy supercomputer network.
MGX: The Abu Dhabi investment company MGX has participated in funding rounds for OpenAI and xAI and is a founding partner in the AI Infrastructure Partnership with Microsoft and BlackRock.
Saudi Arabia
Vision 2030 and tech hub: Under its Vision 2030 plan, Saudi Arabia is heavily investing in AI to diversify its economy away from oil and transform into a tech and innovation hub.
Major U.S. tech collaborations:
Nvidia and HUMAIN: In May 2025, Nvidia announced a partnership with the new Saudi AI firm HUMAIN, providing 18,000 of its top-tier AI supercomputing chips to build foundational infrastructure in the kingdom.
Google Cloud: Google Cloud is cooperating with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) on an AI hub in Dammam.
Cisco and HUMAIN: Cisco is partnering with HUMAIN to build scalable and secure AI infrastructure from the ground up, including establishing an AI Institute at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
Groq: U.S. AI chip startup Groq secured a $1.5 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to build the world's largest AI inferencing data center in Dammam.
Amazon Web Services (AWS): AWS is working with local partners to create an "AI Zone" on its platforms.
Reciprocal investment: As part of a larger $600 billion economic package, the U.S. announced a deal where Saudi firms will invest tens of billions into U.S. data centers.
Qatar
Strategic investments: Qatar is using its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), to invest in AI and digital infrastructure globally, particularly in the U.S..
In September 2025, QIA partnered with U.S. asset manager Blue Owl to launch a $3 billion digital infrastructure platform focused on data centers.
QIA was also a key backer in a record-breaking $13 billion funding round for U.S. AI firm Anthropic.
Quantum technology: Qatari investment firm Al Rabban Capital has committed $1 billion to U.S.-based quantum firm Quantinuum to invest in U.S. quantum technology and workforce development.
KLNMurthy wrote: ↑26 Sep 2025 04:00
Think tanks & lobbying massa are usually for countries and entities that aggressively *want* something. India is basically a status-quo power that wants to be left alone to mind its own business and grow in its own way. Hard to push aggressively for massa to ... do nothing.
Wanting to be left alone is not a realistic or at least not a profitable option in the world of hard nosed international relations, is it? There are only two options. Either be in axis with BRICS/global south type of powers (IOW: China camp) and do a NAM 2.0 redux or make a conscious and hard to swallow but a profitable and realistic choice recognizing India's relatively weak economic, technological, military and strategic positions as of today and strike a faustian bargain in order to build its capacities (similar to the Meiji era bargain by Imperial Japan) and if and when these capacities are built - only then strike out an independent path --- when and if India can truly claim great power status. A great power is one who can dominate its neighborhood, and chosen areas of Interests and does not rely on any other power for its core interests. One thing we should not indulge in - again - is moralistic rhetoric no one cares about to the detriment of India and Indians. Is the current view of EAM, one of "multi-alignment" is in need of a relook?
Last edited by ShauryaT on 26 Sep 2025 06:04, edited 3 times in total.
Ambar wrote: ↑26 Sep 2025 03:52... Shashi Tharoor is absurd.
As a MoS of EAM, what were Dr. Tharoor's achievements? Also, as an MP then and now, did he come up with any new policy initiatives or any new bills crafted by him which were tabled in the Parliament?
One thing we should not indulge in - again - is moralistic rhetoric no one cares about to the detriment of India and Indians.
India is not being moralistic on two things that are very easy to be moralistic about - Ukraine/Russia and Israel/Gaza.
I do see so far no compromise on Indian independence and sovereignty even at significant economic cost; but I don't see this stance as moralistic. Rather it is protecting the core value from which all other values emerge.
Trump is treating the states allied with the US as vassals; as the British Raj dealt with the princely states in British India. I trust India's leaders will not bow down to this, there is no going back to pre-1947; and not yielding is not "moralistic".
A_Gupta wrote: ↑26 Sep 2025 07:05
Trump is treating the states allied with the US as vassals; as the British Raj dealt with the princely states in British India. I trust India's leaders will not bow down to this, there is no going back to pre-1947; and not yielding is not "moralistic".
Not yielding is not enough to win. It is winning that matters. What is a win for India and Indian interests - given realities of power disparities current and emerging? That is the question leadership has to answer. We know what we ultimately want but how do we get there is the question? Cannot get there by just stating we do not want to be aligned, ignoring realities of the state of affairs. I personally feel, this moment is like Commodore Perry's arrival in Japan in 1853. Japan was helpless and its desires to be "left alone" did not have any mettle to stand on.