A high-stakes partnership between Reliance Industries Limited and tech giants Meta and Google became the focal point of Reliance Industries’ AGM on Friday, with separate addresses by both Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google.
RIL also announced an India-focused AI joint venture with Meta with an initial investment of ₹855 crore (about USD 100 million) aimed at building and scaling AI solutions for enterprises in India. Under the JV agreement, RIL and Meta have jointly committed to capitalise the JV in a ratio of 70 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively, and to also select international markets.
"Meta and Reliance are going to deliver our open-source AI models to Indian businesses to help them fuel their work. With Llama, we have seen how AI can amplify human potential, boosting productivity, inspiring creativity, and accelerating innovation. And now, with Reliance's reach and scale, we can bring this to every corner of India," Mark Zuckerberg said in his address.
RIL also announced a partnership with Google for AI under which they will set up AI-ready data centres that will use computing power from Google, energy support from RIL, and connectivity will be provided by Reliance Jio.
Also Read: ‘AI for everyone, everywhere’, says Mukesh Ambani at RI launch
In his address, Sundar Pichai, Google CEO, said, "The AI opportunity in India is extraordinary...Google and Reliance are partnering to help all of Reliance's businesses transform, using AI – from Energy and Retail to Telecom and Financial Services. To support this AI adoption, together we are establishing a Jamnagar Cloud region, built for and dedicated to Reliance. It will bring world-class AI and compute from Google Cloud, powered by clean energy from Reliance, and connected by Jio's advanced network”.
A few years back, Jio Platforms had raised about ₹1,52,056 crore from 13 marquee investors, including Facebook (now Meta), Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, Mubadala, ADIA, TPG, L Catterton, Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Intel Capital and Qualcomm Ventures, for a total consideration of 32.9 per cent stake.
While Google had picked up a 7.7 per cent stake in Mukesh Ambani-led Jio Platforms for ₹33,737 crore, Zuckerberg-led Meta (then Facebook Inc) acquired a 9.99 per cent stake for ₹43,574 crore. Back then, the Meta investment was the single largest FDI in the technology sector in India.
Meanwhile, Ambani spoke about robotics, calling it an exciting frontier.
"Intelligent automation will transform factories into adaptive production systems, warehouses into autonomous supply chains, and hospitals into centres of precision care. We are investing to make India a leader in human-centric robotics powered by AI, creating new types of industries and services, new types of agriculture, new types of jobs, and attractive new opportunities for our youth," the Reliance Industries’ Chairman said.
"We are developing AI as a new growth engine, besides embedding AI across all our businesses… We are making every one of our businesses AI native, positioning them for hyper growth...Our operating model is now led more by innovation than capital intensity," he further added.
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