Global Courant
US President Joe Biden watches as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a meeting with senior officials and CEOs of US and Indian companies, in the East Room, White House in Washington, DC, on June 23, 2023.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
The CEOs of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft got some healthy facetime this week with India’s leader, who was in the US to meet with President Biden and other political and business leaders.
The tech firm’s executives spent more than an hour with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House on Friday, discussing opportunities and challenges in investing in India. Earlier in the week, Modi met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
After the meeting at the White House, Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that India presents a “huge opportunity.” When asked if Apple would continue to expand there, he pointed to the two stores the company opened in India earlier this year.
It was the first state visit to the US for Modi, who became prime minister in 2014. After Friday’s meeting, the White House said Google will work with the Indian Institute of Science on open sourcing of voice data for artificial intelligence models.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was also in Washington for the event. Two knowledgeable people said Altman and Modi were discussing opportunities to collaborate on AI.
Hemant Taneja, CEO of venture capital firm General Catalyst, attended the roundtable. Ahead of the meeting, he shared with CNBC his intentions to reach an agreement on efforts to streamline technology transfer rules between the US and India, which has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country. Relations between the US and China have become increasingly strained in recent years.
We are in a digital cold war with China and this approach will ultimately foster an atmosphere of more collaboration,” said Taneja.
Large semiconductor companies such as micron And Applied materials used Modi’s visit as an opportunity to announce plans to make significant investments in India. Micron is aiming to open a facility in Modi’s home state of Gujarat, as the wider chip industry looks for ways to diversify its supply chain. Lamb research unveiled plans to train 60,000 Indian engineers.
Access to a highly skilled workforce and outdated labor laws are challenges for US companies when it comes to recruiting in India.
“U.S. companies in India have struggled over time with regulatory uncertainty and challenges in relocating or terminating employees,” said Kenneth Juster, former U.S. ambassador to India. Juster, who is now a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said he remains optimistic, adding that India has pledged to ease the process for foreign companies to do business there.
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