The world has confidence on India's role in the new AI age: IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said India has emerged as a trusted global partner in both AI innovation and semiconductor supply chains, declaring that the India AI Impact Summit 2026 has attracted over $270 billion in investment pledges. Speaking to the media at the conclusion of the Day 5 of the summit held at Bharat Mandapam, Vaishnaw highlighted the overwhelming success of the event, which drew more than 5 lakh visitors and brought together virtually every major AI player in the world.“More than 5 lakh visitors have enjoyed this exhibition. A lot interacted with many experts from the world. We had practically every major AI player in the world. We had so many startups getting the opportunity to showcase their work. Overall, the quality of discussion was phenomenal,” Vaishnaw said told reporters. According to Vaishnaw, the summit has already generated massive investment interest in India's technology sector with infrastructure-related investments have crossing $250 billion, while venture capital commitments for deep tech startups have reached $20 billion.“We also have a lot of investment pledges…it's already crossed $250 billion for the infra-related investments and about $20 billion for the VC deep tech,” the Minister announced.Vaishnaw emphasised that global leaders increasingly view India as a critical and trusted partner in the semiconductor supply chain.“From all the discussions that we had, it very clearly emerged that the world looks at India as a trusted partner for semiconductor supply chain, which means the way semiconductor industry will grow in our country in the coming years, that looks like a very important as it will emerge as a major sector,” he said.The minister’s remarks came in response to questions about India joining the Pax Silica coalition, a strategic technology alliance with the United States. India formally joined the coalition on Friday, the fifth day of the summit.Meanwhile, while addressing concerns about the high costs associated with AI and semiconductor innovation, the minister pointed to ongoing technological breakthroughs aimed at reducing manufacturing expenses.“People are looking at reducing power cost by 50%. The same thing will happen in chip cost. So much innovation is happening,” he explained.“India will be a big beneficiary of that innovation, because we are starting our design and semiconductor journey at a point where we can use all the benefits that we know about AI and optimise our design of chips according to the new age,” Vaishnaw highlighted.