Apple, Microsoft, Google CEOs fawn over India PM Modi

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the U.S. has elicited a high level of interest from executives at big-name companies looking to invest in India, with many attending the lavish state dinner at the White House Thursday night.

Modi’s visit comes as the U.S. looks to deepen ties with India as it continues its rapid economic growth and becomes an increasingly attractive destination for firms relocating operations out of China amid the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific region. India overtook the United Kingdom as the world’s fifth-largest economy last year, while its population surpassed China’s as the world’s largest this April and is forecasted to grow for decades to come.

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Among the business and tech luminaries in attendance at Thursday’s White House state dinner were Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. They were joined by Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra hours after Micron – one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies – announced earlier Thursday that it’s planning a $2.75 billion semiconductor assembly and testing facility in India.

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The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner and those ties are expected to deepen in the wake of the visit, as Biden and Modi signed trade deals on critical minerals, semiconductors and other advanced technologies. They also agreed to end several lingering trade disputes and signed agreements that will expand cooperation on defense and space matters, with agreements on jet engines, drones and shipyard repairs reached by the two leaders.

Cooperation on artificial intelligence (AI) was also a focus of Modi’s trip to the U.S., as demonstrated in part by the presence of leaders of companies like Google, Microsoft and OpenAI that are deeply involved in the AI competition. 

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The White House released a joint statement by Biden and Modi saying they "acknowledge the profound opportunities and significant risks associated with AI." It added that they have "committed to develop joint and international collaboration on trustworthy and responsible AI, to advance AI education and workforce initiatives, promote commercial opportunities, and mitigate against discrimination and bias."

The Biden-Modi joint statement also noted Google’s investment in India through a $10 billion digitization fund along with an AI Research Center in India that is building models to support over 100 Indian languages.

Microsoft launched a similar initiative last year, partnering with the National Language Translation Mission for large Indian language AI models to expand the availability of digital services in regional languages.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and his wife were also on hand. 

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Modi’s trip to Washington, D.C., which featured a White House visit and an address to a joint session of Congress in addition to the state dinner, has been bookended by meetings with U.S. business leaders.

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He met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in New York on Tuesday where Musk said, "I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible," according to Reuters.

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Modi is also expected to address a group of U.S. CEOs at a reception on Friday. He’s also scheduled to deliver an address to the Indian diaspora at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington.

Fox News’ Peter Aitken, FOX Business’ Joe Toppe, and Reuters contributed to this report.