CEOs of the world's leading technology companies, including Alphabet (Google) CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, are gathering in New Delhi for the 'India AI Impact Summit 2026', which begins in New Delhi, India, on Monday.

This highlights the growing attraction of the South Asian artificial intelligence and technology market, including India, with a large population, according to CNBC.

The conference, which will be held at the Bharat Mandapam until February 20, is expected to be attended by more than 40 CEOs of technology companies and 20 heads of state. According to the organizers, the conference, which will be inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is expected to generate potential investment commitments of up to $100 billion through AI partnerships and infrastructure agreements. In addition, representatives from more than 60 countries will discuss AI governance, innovation and development priorities in various sessions of the conference.

The Indian government has presented the event as a platform to build an initiative to expand the ‘Global AI Commons’, i.e., common data, standards and areas of use, targeting emerging economies and countries in the ‘Global South’. Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, the world’s most valuable company by market value, was also expected to participate in the event. However, the company has confirmed that he will not be coming to India, citing unforeseen reasons.

However, Nvidia has decided to be represented by a senior official. The same conference is expected to be attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, along with the prime ministers of Switzerland, Estonia, Slovakia, Serbia, Finland, Croatia, Greece, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

The conference is taking place at a time when Silicon Valley giants are intensifying their activities in India's rapidly expanding AI and technology market. Microsoft recently announced a new AI investment of $ 23 billion. It is said that India is the main center of it. The move is part of a broader plan to expand regional cloud and AI infrastructure, Reuters reported.

Alphabet's Google has also committed $15 billion to build a large AI data center in South India. Other US cloud and AI service providers are also ramping up local partnerships. OpenAI chief Altman had described India as a potential "full-stack AI leader" after setting up its first India office in Delhi last year. Since then, India has become one of OpenAI's largest markets for global users, he said.

Opportunities are also expanding for Indian startups and local innovators. Indian companies from Bengaluru to Hyderabad are developing AI-based products and services. According to industry surveys, most Indian startups have increased their investment in advanced technologies such as machine learning and generative AI. Government incentives have also fueled this trend. A new policy has been introduced to provide tax breaks for 20 years to foreign companies that use local data centers. The aim is to attract companies to set up operations in India that require high-end computing power.