Reliance and Facebook join forces for AI, investing over ₹800 crore
Reliance Industries (RIL), one of India’s largest business groups, and Meta, which operates the social media platform Facebook, have announced the formation of a joint venture to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-related services. Reliance and Meta’s subsidiary, Facebook Overseas, have formed a partnership for this purpose.
According to a media report, Reliance Enterprise Intelligence Limited (REIL) has been formed for this purpose. This company will develop and market enterprise AI services. The new company will begin as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Intelligence and will later become a joint venture with Facebook under a revised joint venture agreement. The agreement between the two companies states that Reliance Intelligence will hold a 70 percent stake in the venture, while Facebook will hold a 30 percent stake. The joint venture will involve an investment of approximately ₹855 crore. Over the past few years, Meta has increased its investment in AI. The company is also hiring significant talent for its unit related to this segment.
RIL’s stock exchange filing stated that this transaction is not a related-party transaction and has no involvement with the company’s promoter group, any promoter, or group companies. Investment in the AI sector is growing in India. Recently, American technology company Google announced an investment of $15 billion (approximately Rs. 1.3 lakh crore) to build an AI-focused data center in the country. This will involve a strategic partnership with Bharti Airtel, a major telecom company. This data center will be built in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. This investment will be made over the next five years. Along with the data center, the two companies will also jointly build a state-of-the-art cable landing station.
This will be Google’s largest investment outside the United States. The company plans to build a data center campus in India with a 1 GW output. This could help expand Google Cloud’s client base. The project is scheduled to be completed by 2030. It will utilize subsea networks and clean energy. AdaniConneX is also participating in this project. The use of AI is increasing among Indian entrepreneurs. The country’s education sector can benefit from this technology.
