Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries (RIL), has undertaken an aggressive ₹10 trillion ($110 billion) investment in Artificial Intelligence to be made over the next seven years in a move akin to the revolutionary impact of the Jio launch 10 years ago. Today, Feb. 19, 2026, in the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, Ambani stated that India “cannot afford to rent intelligence” and will ensure that AI “is as affordable and accessible as mobile data.”
The Vision: India’s “Sovereign Intelligence.”
At the heart of Ambani’s announcement is the establishment of a “Sovereign AI” ecosystem. Just as Jio democratized 4G and 5G, so the project aims to bring the cost of “intelligence” down and make it more affordable for every Indian citizen and enterprise. “India cannot rent intelligence,” Ambani said, stressing that using foreign cloud and compute infrastructure is a strategic hazard. He cast the ₹10 trillion outlay not as “speculative capital” but as “nation-building capital” intended to deliver enduring economic value for generations.
Jio Intelligence - The Three Pillars
Reliance and Jio will funnel this capital into three massive infrastructure projects:
- Gigawatt-Scale Data Centers: Construction is underway on multi-gigawatt, AI-ready facilities in Jamnagar, Gujarat. A first phase of more than 120 MW is scheduled to go live in the second half of 2026.
- Green Energy Advantage: To power these energy-dependent AI hubs, Reliance will tap into up to 10 GW of excess green power, supported by its vast solar projects in Kutch and Andhra Pradesh.
- Nationwide Edge Compute: This will introduce low-latency AI-integrated services such as translation and diagnostics in real time to kirana stores, classrooms, and farms all over India.
"AI Will Not Kill Work"
Addressing the global fear of job losses, Ambani provided one reassuring perspective. He likened AI to the legendary Akshaya Patra (the vessel of endless nourishment) as AI is capable of unlimited productivity augmentation. “We will show that AI does not eliminate jobs. Instead, it is going to generate new high-skill jobs,” he said at the summit. He foresees AI as a collaborator helping Indian manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare markets scale up to the level of global standards.
The New AI Cold War?
This announcement has only come days after the Adani Group pledged $100 billion for AI-ready data centers, bringing to the front a huge “AI arms race” between India’s largest conglomerates. As the "MANAV Vision" of PM Modi is the policy framework, Reliance's decision also makes India a candidate for the future of the Global South as a leader in digitalization.
