Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries is set to build the world’s largest data centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat, according to a Bloomberg News report. This project marks a significant step in Reliance’s entry into India’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The company has reportedly procured AI semiconductors from Nvidia, a global leader in AI technology. This follows the October 2024 announcement at the Nvidia AI Summit, where Reliance and Nvidia revealed plans to collaborate on AI infrastructure. Nvidia committed to supplying its advanced Blackwell AI processors for a one-gigawatt data centre that Reliance plans to establish.
Commenting on India’s AI potential at the summit, Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s CEO, stated: “It makes complete sense that India should manufacture its own AI. You should not export data to import intelligence. India should not export flour to import bread.”
Mukesh Ambani echoed this sentiment, highlighting India’s strong digital connectivity infrastructure. He said: “We can use intelligence to actually bring prosperity to all the people and bring equality to the world. Apart from the US and China, India has the best digital connectivity infrastructure.”
Reliance and Nvidia’s growing partnership
In September 2024, Reliance Industries and Nvidia partnered to develop AI supercomputers and large language models (LLMs) tailored to India’s diverse languages. This collaboration underscores Reliance’s ambition to leverage AI for India’s unique needs. Nvidia later announced a similar partnership with the Tata Group, reflecting its commitment to India’s AI-driven growth.
India’s AI aspirations
The Indian government has pledged over Rs 10,000 crore to fund startups, AI projects, and LLM development as part of its AI ambitions. However, challenges persist. The nation’s semiconductor industry remains in its infancy, with no domestic chip production facilities to date. Establishing semiconductor fabrication plants is a capital-intensive and time-consuming process requiring a highly specialised workforce, which India is still developing.
While India’s AI journey is still unfolding, these initiatives, combined with partnerships like those between Reliance, Nvidia, and the Tata Group, showcase the country’s commitment to becoming a global AI powerhouse.⍐
Trump threatens Russia, others with tariffs if Ukraine deal not reached
By David Lawder and Daphne Psaledakis January 22, 2025
Summary
Trump threatens tariffs on Russia over Ukraine conflict
Russia's deputy UN ambassador says will have to see what "deal" means
Trump previously declared he would have a deal on first day in office
US imports from Russia have fallen sharply since 2014
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine, and added that these could also be applied to "other participating countries."
In a post on Truth Social, Trump modified comments he made on Tuesday that he would likely impose sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate an end to the nearly three-year conflict.
"If we don't make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump said.
Trump's post did not identify the countries that he considered participants in the conflict, or how he defined participation.
Former President Joe Biden's administration heaped heavy sanctions on thousands of entities in Russia's banking, defense, manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors since Moscow's February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has killed tens of thousands of people and reduced cities to rubble.
Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said Moscow will have to see what Trump thinks a "deal" to end the war in Ukraine means.
"It's not merely the question of ending the war," Polyanskiy told Reuters. "It's first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis."
In the runup to his Nov. 5 election victory, Trump declared dozens of times that he would have a deal in place between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office, if not before. But Trump's aides have conceded a deal to end the war could take months or longer.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Treasury hit Russia's energy revenues with its hardest sanctions yet, targeting oil and gas producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that are part of the so-called dark fleet of tankers aimed at evading other Western trade curbs.
SANCTION AND TARIFF THREATS
Trump has sought to use the threat of tariffs to achieve non-trade goals, including threatening Mexico, Canada and China with duties to push them to stop illegal migration and the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.
Those three countries are the top U.S. trading partners, accounting for more than $2.1 trillion in annual two-way trade.
Russia is far down the list, with U.S. imports from Russia falling to $2.9 billion through the first 11 months of 2024 from $29.6 billion in 2021.
The U.S. imported $13.5 billion worth of Russian petroleum products in 2014, but this has fallen to zero after Ukraine war-related sanctions. Some other top import categories a decade ago, including semi-finished steel and pig iron, have also fallen to zero.
The U.S. still imports significant amounts of Russian fertilizers used in agriculture - about $1.4 billion worth in 2023 - as well as more than $1 billion each worth of uranium for nuclear power use and palladium and rhodium used in automotive catalytic converters.
"One way to hit Russia hard would be to sanction and stop the use of Russian wood in finished wood products coming from China, Vietnam and other countries," said Tim Brightbill, a trade attorney at the Wiley Rein law firm in Washington.
As for other participants, the Biden administration had imposed sanctions against entities in North Korea and Iran for weapons supplies to Russia and against Chinese entities that supply components and other goods that Russia's war effort.
Trump said he was "going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War!"
The negotiating positions of the two warring sides remain far apart, and some Ukrainians fear they could be forced to make massive concessions after three years of brutal combat.
The conflict has developed into a war of attrition largely fought along front lines in eastern Ukraine, with huge numbers of casualties on both sides.⍐
CNBC Excerpts: CNBC Broadcasts Live from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
REEVES ON TARIFFS
RACHEL REEVES:I won’t speculate on what may or may not happen, but I do understand that President Trump is concerned about countries that are running large and persistent surpluses on the trade balance with the US. That’s not the case for the UK. We are not part of the problem here. So we, the UK, increased trade with President Trump last time he was in office, and there’s absolutely no reason why our two great nations with such a strong and special relationship can’t increase those flows of trade once again.
REEVES ON CHINA
REEVES:I went to Beijing and Shanghai to try and get a better deal for UK financial services firms that operate in China, like HSBC and Standard Chartered. And I was able, during that economic and financial dialog, to secure licenses and quotas for big UK banks and asset managers that do business in China. That’s in the UK’s national interest, and that’s what I will always do as Chancellor of the Exchequer, represent the interests of my country on the global stage, whether that is improving the ability of British businesses to export to China, improving our trade links with the European Union, or indeed, strengthening the ties that we have with the United States, our biggest single trading partner.
REEVES ON ELON MUSK CRITICISM
REEVES:Elon Musk is entitled to his opinion, but he’s not one of the people that votes in a UK general election. We had an election just over six months ago. We received a huge majority, a huge mandate for the change that we’re bringing. That change to grow the economy and make working people better off, those changes to improve our schools and our health system, and that’s what British people voted for, and that is what our prime minister, Keir Starmer and me as finance secretary, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, are getting on and delivering.
Interview with UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves
China’s Sinopec asks 200 more acres for Sri Lanka refinery
Wednesday January 22 Economy Next
ECONOMYNEXT –
China’s Sinopec has asked for 200 acres more land for its planned 3.7 billion dollar refinery expected to be built in Hambantota, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.
Sri Lanka had originally offered 500 acres of land for the project, he said.
Sri Lanka had inked an agreement in Beijing during President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit aiming to resolve remaining issues within a month.
The refinery had tax and water issues to be solved.
Sri Lanka originally offered land for a 100,000 barrels per day refinery when expressions of interest were called.
Sinopec got the deal after Vitol Asia, the other shortlisted party, pulled out.
However, Sinopec wanted to double the capacity, then Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera said.
The refinery expected to sell 10 percent of its output domestically but there was no obligation by the government to buy, he said.
Sri Lanka has agreed to clear remaining issues with the refinery project within one month, when President Anura Kumara Dissanayake visited China recently, Minister Herath told reporters Wednesday⍐
