Tech, biosciences CEOs meet with PM Modi, express ‘immense optimism’

New York: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the top technology and biosciences leaders after outlining his vision of making India a technology powerhouse at a rally of the diaspora.

After the meeting with 15 CEOs from chip design and manufacture, IT, and biosciences fields on Sunday, he posted on X that he was “glad to see immense optimism towards India”.

His administration was “committed to making India a global hub of semiconductor manufacturing” and a biotech powerhouse, PM Modi told them, according to the Ministry of External Affairs press release.

He said India’s policy is “to promote AI for All, underpinned by its ethical and responsible use”.

PM Modi’s X post called the roundtable “fruitful” and that they discussed technology and innovation while he “highlighted the strides made by India in this field”.

He met separately with Kris Singh, the CEO of Holtec International, a company that makes small nuclear reactors.

“They discussed Holtec’s plan to expand manufacturing in India and the potential for boosting cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy,” said an X post from MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaisal.

The MEA release said the the roundtable with the CEOs of tech and bioscience focused on artificial intelligence and quantum computing; biotechnology and life sciences; computing, IT and communication, and semiconductor technologies.

The release said they had a “deep dive” on the evolving technology landscape at a global level and “how these cutting-edge technologies are contributing to the well-being of people around the world. including in India”.

PM Modi assured the CEOs about India’s “deep commitment” to protecting intellectual property, the MEA said.

During his third term, “India will make every effort to become the third largest economy in the world”, he said, asking them “to take advantage of India’s growth story for collaboration and innovation”.

“They can co-develop, co-design, and co-produce in India for the world, harnessing the opportunities from India’s economic and technological growth,” the release said.

While on previous visits to the US, he has met with many tech leaders, this time there were more from the chip, semiconductor, and biosciences fields.

The leaders from the chip field were CEOs Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Lisa Su of AMD, Tim Archer of Lam Research, Thomas Caulfield of Global Foundries, and Arvind Krishna of IBM.

CEOs Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, Sundar Pichai of Google, Enrique Lores of HP, and Hans Vestberg of Verizon from the IT sector were at the roundtable.

From life sciences and biotech came, CEOs Chris Viehbacher of Biogen, Chris Boerner of Briston Squibb Myers, David Ricks of Eli Lilly, and Noubar Afeyan, the chairman of Moderna.

The MEA release said they expressed their strong interest in investing and collaborating with India seeing its “growing prominence as a global technology hub, driven by its innovation-friendly policies and flourishing market opportunities”.

–IANS