AI’s $100B India bet, open voice models & more (February 17, 2026)

Good morning,

India is going all in on AI infrastructure, with government and private giants pledging billions toward compute and data centers. Meanwhile, model competition is intensifying as Cohere goes open and key talent shifts to OpenAI.

Let’s dive in 👇

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🇮🇳 India’s AI Infrastructure Surge

💰 Adani’s $100B AI-Ready Data Center Plan

India’s Adani plans to invest up to $100 billion in AI-ready data centers, signaling one of the largest infrastructure commitments globally. The investment aims to build hyperscale facilities optimized for high-performance AI workloads, targeting both domestic and international clients. It positions India as a serious contender in the global compute race.

🏛️ Modi Government Doubles Down on AI

India’s government ramps up AI investments with expanded public funding and strategic incentives to accelerate domestic AI development. Officials emphasized sovereign compute capacity, startup support, and public-private partnerships to reduce reliance on foreign infrastructure. The push aligns with broader economic ambitions to make India a global AI hub.

⚡ Blackstone Backs Indian Compute Expansion

Blackstone backs Neysa in up to $1.2 billion in financing as India builds domestic AI compute capacity. The capital will support data center growth and GPU deployment for enterprise AI workloads. Institutional capital flowing into compute suggests infrastructure remains the primary bottleneck investors are targeting.

🤖 Model Wars & Strategic Moves

🤝 Anthropic Partners with Infosys

Anthropic and Infosys announce a partnership to scale enterprise AI adoption globally. The collaboration integrates Claude into Infosys’ enterprise solutions, targeting regulated industries and large enterprises. It signals continued momentum for Anthropic in enterprise distribution.

🌍 Cohere Launches Open Multilingual Models

Cohere launches a family of open multilingual models aimed at improving accessibility beyond English-dominant AI systems. The release includes open weights designed for global developers and emerging markets. It adds pressure to proprietary providers by expanding open alternatives.

👨‍💻 OpenClaw Creator Joins OpenAI

OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger joins OpenAI in a notable talent move. Steinberger built tools focused on agentic development workflows, and his move reinforces OpenAI’s focus on developer ecosystems. Talent concentration remains a competitive advantage in the model race.

🛠️ Tools of the Day

→ Figr – Design Research Simplified – AI-powered user research and design workflow automation.
→ Boost.space – No-code data synchronization across tools and databases.
→ Mozart AI – AI music generation platform for creators and brands.

⚡ Quick Hits

→ China’s Moonshot seeks $10B valuation in new funding round.
→ Recursive Intelligence raises $335M at $4B valuation.
→ NPR host sues Google over NotebookLM voice use.
→ Anthropic and Pentagon reportedly clash over Claude usage terms.
→ BBC reports on global AI policy tensions.

🧾 TLDR

India is deploying massive capital into AI infrastructure, with both government and private players committing tens of billions toward compute and data centers. Enterprise AI adoption continues accelerating through partnerships like Anthropic and Infosys, while Cohere pushes open multilingual models to expand global reach. Meanwhile, major funding rounds and strategic hires underscore how competitive and capital-intensive the AI landscape has become.

Cheers,
David