India’s Role in Global AI Governance Explained by Raghav Chadha at AI Summit 2026

The Strategic Importance of AI Compute Capacity

• 💡 Compute capacity is crucial for a nation's global standing, influencing governance efficiency, military capability, and economic prosperity.
• 🎯 The speaker emphasizes that compute capacity is fundamentally a sovereign issue, rather than merely a supply chain concern.

Global Monopolies in AI Infrastructure

• 🔑 A monopoly exists in AI, encompassing design, manufacturing, and export controls.
• ⚙️ Design monopoly is held by companies like Nvidia, whose chips and GPUs are foundational for most LLMs and generative AI models.
• 🏭 Manufacturing monopoly is largely concentrated with TSMC in Taiwan, producing 90% of the world's chips.
• ⚠️ Export controls, such as those imposed by the United States, classify AI architecture as a strategic asset, limiting access even for nations with purchasing power.

India's AI Landscape and Challenges

• 🇮🇳 India currently lacks control over the design, manufacturing, and export aspects of AI infrastructure.
• 🧠 Despite this, India is a world leader in AI talent and skill penetration, with its AI talent pool projected to double by 2027.
• 🚀 The speaker asserts that talent alone is merely an aspiration without sufficient compute capacity, and compute without sovereignty leads to dependence.

India's Roadmap for AI Sovereignty

• ✅ The first step for India is to secure access to the global AI ecosystem.
• 🌐 India must then diversify its supply to avoid over-reliance on a few economies or countries.
• 🛠️ The long-term goal is to build a domestic AI ecosystem within India, including data centers and chip manufacturing capabilities.

The New Geopolitics of Power

• ⚡ In the 21st century, power will be controlled by those with AI compute capability and chip manufacturing abilities.
• 📈 This paradigm shift is compared to the 20th century, where power was dictated by control over oil, gas, and steel.