By Khalid Khattak
In February, India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed neighbors, held separate events focused on artificial intelligence (AI). The contrast between the announcements made at these events highlights a growing gap in how both countries approach AI investment and ambition.
At the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, India’s government announced that more than US$200 billion in AI and deep-tech investments are expected over the next two years. This figure was presented by government ministers and widely reported. It is important to be precise about what this number represents. It is not a direct government budget allocation. Instead, it reflects aggregate commitments and expected investment flows into India’s AI ecosystem, combining private sector pledges, foreign investment interest, and supportive public policy signals.
A major share of this figure comes from large Indian conglomerates. Reliance Group announced plans to invest about US$110 billion in AI-related data centers and computing infrastructure over several years. Separately, Adani Group said it would invest around US$100 billion in renewable-energy-powered AI data centers by 2035. These corporate announcements sit alongside government initiatives such as expanding national compute capacity and supporting AI startups, though the government’s own direct spending is much smaller than the headline number suggests.
Pakistan’s announcement, made at Indus AI Week in Islamabad, was far more modest in scale. The government committed to investing US$1 billion in AI by 2030. This includes funding for skills development, scholarships, training programs, and early ecosystem building. Unlike India’s figure, Pakistan’s number refers specifically to public sector investment rather than expected private capital flows.
Unlike India, Pakistan has not seen large AI investment pledges from its leading conglomerates.
Economic size explains part of the gap. India is the world’s fifth-largest economy with a large technology sector and strong investor confidence. Pakistan’s economy is significantly smaller and faces fiscal constraints. Still, the difference is striking. Even after accounting for scale, Pakistan’s AI commitment remains limited and cautious.
At the same time, India’s US$200 billion figure should be treated carefully. Investment “commitments” and expectations do not always translate into actual spending. Execution, regulation, talent development, and access to compute will determine real outcomes. For both countries, AI progress will depend less on summit headlines and more on what is delivered after the cameras are gone.
