New Delhi: Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani Friday announced the formation of a new wholly-owned subsidiary, Reliance Intelligence, that will house large-scale AI infrastructure, and also unveiled new partnerships with global tech titans Meta and Google, as the company outlined its vision of AI for everyone and everywhere.
Reliance Intelligence will build gigawatt-scale, AI-ready data centres, powered by green energy and engineered for training and inference at a national scale, Ambani said at the company’s AGM.
Ambani also announced high-voltage partnerships with Meta and Google at the RIL AGM, which saw separate addresses by tech stalwarts Mark Zuckerberg (Founder and CEO of Meta) and Sundar Pichai (CEO of Alphabet and Google).
“A decade ago, digital services became a new growth engine for Reliance. Now, the opportunity before us with AI is just as large, if not larger. Jio promised and delivered digital everywhere and for every Indian. Similarly, Reliance Intelligence promises to deliver AI everywhere for every Indian,” Ambani said.
Reliance Intelligence is conceived with four clear missions: to house India’s next-generation AI infrastructure, to house global partnerships, to build AI services for India, and to foster AI talent, he said.
“Work has already begun on the gigawatt-scale, AI-ready data centres in Jamnagar. These facilities will be delivered in phases aligned to India’s growing needs, powered by Reliance’s new energy ecosystem, and custom-made for AI training and inference,” Ambani said.
Reliance Intelligence will also cater to global partnerships, bringing together tech titans from across the world to open-source communities.
“Reliance Intelligence will deliver trusted, easy-to-use AI services for consumers, small businesses, and enterprises, and solutions for sectors of national importance such as education, healthcare, and agriculture. The services will be reliable at scale and affordable for every Indian.
“Reliance Intelligence will create a home for world-class researchers, engineers, designers, and product builders, combining the speed of research with the rigour of engineering, so that ideas become innovations and applications, providing solutions to India and the world,” Ambani said.
RIL also announced an India-focused AI joint venture with tech giant Meta that will build and scale AI solutions for enterprises in India and select international markets. Under the JV agreement, RIL and Meta have jointly committed to an initial investment of Rs 855 crore (about USD 100 million) to capitalise the JV in a ratio of 70 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
“Meta and Reliance are going to deliver our open-source AI models to Indian businesses to help them fuel their work. With Llama, we have seen how AI can amplify human potential, boosting productivity, inspiring creativity, and accelerating innovation. And now, with Reliance’s reach and scale, we can bring this to every corner of India,” Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
RIL also announced a partnership with Google for AI under which they will set up AI-ready data centres, which will use computing power from Google, while energy support will come from RIL, and connectivity will be provided by Reliance Jio.
“The AI opportunity in India is extraordinary…Google and Reliance are partnering to help all of Reliance’s businesses transform, using AI – from Energy and Retail to Telecom and Financial Services. To support this AI adoption, together we are establishing a Jamnagar Cloud region, built for and dedicated to Reliance. It will bring world-class AI and compute from Google Cloud, powered by clean energy from Reliance, and connected by Jio’s advanced network,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said.
A few years back, Jio Platforms had raised about Rs 1,52,056 crore from 13 marquee investors, including Facebook (now Meta), Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures, for a total consideration of 32.9 per cent stake.
While Google had picked up a 7.7 per cent stake in Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms for Rs 33,737 crore, Zuckerberg-led Meta (then Facebook Inc) acquired a 9.99 per cent stake for Rs 43,574 crore. Back then, the Meta investment was the single largest FDI in the technology sector in India.
Meanwhile, Ambani also spoke about robotics, calling it an exciting frontier.
“Intelligent automation will transform factories into adaptive production systems, warehouses into autonomous supply chains, and hospitals into centres of precision care. We are investing to make India a leader in human-centric robotics powered by AI, creating new types of industries and services, new types of agriculture, new types of jobs, and attractive new opportunities for our youth,” Ambani said.
Breakthroughs in Artificial Intelligence and allied deep technologies are boosting productivity, efficiency and human potential to unimaginable levels, Ambani said, describing the “miraculous power” of AI as a new “Kamdhenu”, the divine wish-fulfilling cow.
He outlined how the convergence of three powerful technological transformations — breakthroughs in clean energy, genomics, and AI — is changing the global narrative to one of superabundance and super affordability.
“We are developing AI as a new growth engine, besides embedding AI across all our businesses… We are making every one of our businesses AI native, positioning them for hyper growth…Our operating model is now led more by innovation than capital intensity,” Ambani said.
PTI
