Apple’s Tim Cook calls India ‘huge opportunity’ after tech meeting at White House with Prime Minister Modi

The
CEOs
of


Apple,


Alphabet,


Microsoft
got
a
healthy
does
of
facetime
with
the
leader
of
India
this
week,
who
was
in
the
U.S.
to
meet
with

President
Biden
as
well
as
other
political
and
business
leaders.

The
tech
company
execs
spent
over
an
hour
with
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
inside
the
White
House
on
Friday,
discussing
opportunities
and
challenges
in
investing
in
India.
Earlier
in
the
week,
Modi

met
with


Tesla
CEO

Elon
Musk.

After
the
meeting
concluded
at
the
White
House,
Apple
CEO

Tim
Cook
told
CNBC
that
India
represents
a
“huge
opportunity.”
When
asked
if
Apple
would
continue
expanding
there,
he
pointed
to
the
two
retail
stores
the
company
opened
in
India
earlier
this
year.

It
was
the
first
state
visit
to
the
U.S.
for
Modi,
who
became
prime
minister
in
2014.
Following
Friday’s
meeting,
the
White
House
said
Google
will
be
working
with
the
Indian
Institute
of
Science
on
open
sourcing
of
speech
data
for
artificial
intelligence
models.

OpenAI
CEO
Sam
Altman
was
also
in
Washington
for
the
event.
Two
people
with
knowledge
of
the
matter
said
Altman
and
Modi
discussed
opportunities
to
collaborate
on
AI.

Hemant
Taneja,
CEO
of
venture
capital
firm
General
Catalyst,
attended
the
roundtable.
Ahead
of
the
meeting,
he
shared
with
CNBC
his
intentions
to
find
alignment
on
efforts
to
streamline
technology
transfer
rules
between
the
U.S.
and
India,
which
has
overtaken
China
as
the
world’s
most-populous
country.
U.S.
relations
with
China
have
become
increasingly
strained
in
the
past
few
years.

We
are
in
a
digital
cold
war
with
China,
and
this
approach
will
ultimately
foster
an
atmosphere
of
increased
cooperation,”
Taneja
said.

Large
semiconductor
companies
like


Micron
and


Applied
Materials
used
Modi’s
visit
as
an
opportunity
to
announce
plans
to
make
significant
investments
India. Micron
is
aiming
to
open
a
facility
in
Modi’s
home
state
of
Gujarat
as
the
broader
chip
industry
looks
for
ways
to
diversify
its
supply
chain.


Lam
Research
revealed
plans
to
train
60,000
Indian
engineers. 

Access
to
highly
skilled
labor
and
outdated
labor
laws
are
challenges
for
American
businesses
when
it
comes
to
staffing
up
in
India.

“U.S.
companies
in
India
have
had
difficulties
over
time
with
regulatory
uncertainty
as
well
as
challenges
in
relocating
or
terminating
employees,”
said
Kenneth
Juster,
former
U.S.
Ambassador
to
India.
Juster,
who’s
now
a
distinguished
fellow
at
the
Council
on
Foreign
Relations,
said
he
remains
optimistic,
adding
that
India
has
pledged
to
ease
the
process
for
foreign
companies
to
do
business
there.

WATCH:

Big
tech
CEOs
meet
with
Biden