Can India challenge the US, China, and the UAE in AI with Google’s new undersea cables?
Dubai: Google’s decision to build new undersea internet cables linking India to multiple continents has sparked a broader debate: can India realistically challenge the United States and China in artificial intelligence — and keep pace with the United Arab Emirates’ rapid advances in AI adoption?
The short answer: not yet — but the gap is narrowing, and comparisons with the United Arab Emirates are becoming increasingly relevant.
What did Google actually announce?
Google said it will build new subsea (undersea) fibre-optic cables connecting India directly to Singapore, South Africa, Australia, and the United States.
These cables will support Google’s planned $15 billion AI infrastructure hub in Visakhapatnam, on India’s east coast. It will be the company’s largest AI hub outside the United States.
Subsea cables carry the vast majority of the world’s internet traffic. For AI, they are critical because training and operating advanced systems requires moving enormous volumes of data between data centres worldwide. Faster, more reliable connectivity enables AI systems to function efficiently and at scale.
Why is this significant for India?
For India, the new cables are less about raw speed and more about resilience and strategic independence. At present, most international data traffic flows through landing points in Mumbai and Chennai.
Google’s project will transform Visakhapatnam into a new global gateway, spreading geographic risk and strengthening network reliability. The company said the initiative would “increase the resilience of India’s digital backbone and improve economic security.”
In practical terms, India gains:
- Greater control over critical digital infrastructure
- Fewer bottlenecks and outages
- Stronger foundations for hosting large-scale AI data centres
Is infrastructure enough for India?
Strong digital infrastructure alone will not make India an AI superpower. Improved connectivity is an essential foundation — but it must be matched by progress in research, advanced hardware, and large-scale deployment.
The United States and China continue to dominate AI because they control:
- Advanced semiconductor design and manufacturing
- The most powerful AI chips
- Leading large-scale research institutions
- Massive private and government funding
China benefits from close coordination between the state and major technology firms, while the United States leads in frontier AI research and venture capital investment. By contrast, India remains dependent on foreign chipmakers and global cloud providers for most advanced AI workloads.
Where is India gaining ground?
India’s primary strength lies in its scale — including its vast talent pool, large developer base, and massive digital user market — rather than in leadership over core AI technologies or frontier research.
India has:
- One of the world’s largest pools of software engineers
- A rapidly expanding cloud and startup ecosystem
- Vast volumes of digital users and data
Last year, India climbed to third place in a global AI competitiveness ranking compiled by researchers at Stanford University, overtaking Japan and South Korea.
At the same time, companies are scaling up AI capacity within the country. Nvidia announced partnerships with Indian cloud providers to supply advanced processors for AI data centres.
Together, these developments suggest India is emerging as a significant hub for deploying AI systems — even if it has yet to take the lead in frontier research or core hardware innovation.
Where does the United Arab Emirates stand?
While India is building scale, the UAE has focused on rapid execution and targeted investment.
The UAE ranks among the world’s leading nations for AI talent investment and resilience — placing sixth globally for combined government and corporate spending on AI skills, and ninth for AI-driven resilience.
AI is already embedded across key sectors of the UAE economy, including:
- Government services and smart city systems
- Healthcare and diagnostics
- Financial services and digital banking
- Energy optimisation and infrastructure management
- Education and workforce development
Government services aimed at reducing bureaucracy
Public education, where AI is being made mandatory in schools
Healthcare systems using predictive modelling and advanced AI platforms
By mid-2025, nearly 90% of organisations in the United Arab Emirates were using AI in at least one business function — one of the highest adoption rates globally.
UAE proves AI capability
The UAE has also positioned itself as a neutral, open AI hub through open-source models such as Falcon, strengthening its international credibility.
In Abu Dhabi, AI ambitions are being reinforced with significant capital. The emirate has emerged as a major global investor in artificial intelligence through MGX, a government-backed fund that has taken stakes in leading AI developers including OpenAI and Anthropic.
MGX aims to build more than $100 billion in assets and could invest up to $10 billion annually in technology — positioning Abu Dhabi not only as an adopter of AI, but as a financial backer helping shape the sector’s global direction.
What do tech leaders think?
Sundar Pichai, head of Alphabet, said India is “uniquely positioned at this moment” to make significant advances in AI.
He described India’s trajectory in the sector as “extraordinary” and noted that the country is already one of the largest markets for Gemini AI.
This underscores a key distinction: while India may not lead in inventing the most advanced AI models first, it has the potential to become one of the largest hubs where AI is deployed, trained, and scaled.
So can India rival the United States, China, and the United Arab Emirates?
In the near term, the answer is no — despite notable progress in infrastructure and AI adoption. India still lags behind in:
- Advanced chip manufacturing
- Cutting-edge AI research
- Homegrown large AI models
While Google’s undersea cables strengthen India’s long-term position and improve its competitiveness, true AI leadership will depend on how quickly this infrastructure is translated into tangible results. Meanwhile, the UAE is already demonstrating strong AI capability.
