Why Technology Alliances Matter: AI Diffusion
Ties to trusted partners and allies have become central for the United States to win the AI race. AI leadership is measured less by who builds the most powerful models than by whose technology stack and governance model is adopted globally. The Trump administration’s AI Action Plan makes this logic explicit by tying the diffusion of American technology to international engagement with willing partners and the ability to meet global demand by exporting AI technology. China, as the strategic motivating factor, has rapidly advanced its technological capabilities and narrowed capability gaps. Chinese companies have launched very capable AI models, offering near-parity performance at lower cost.
US-led technology alliances are technology-focused bilateral or minilateral arrangements among governments. They have emerged to coordinate policies and actions concerning critical technologies and address economic security via coordinated measures on supply chains, export controls and standards to reduce dependencies and strengthen collective resilience. Precisely because AI depends on global supply chains – from critical minerals to advanced chips, data centers, and energy – Washington should leverage technology alliances to translate and diffuse American innovation into an enduring advantage.
Precisely because AI depends on global supply chains – from critical minerals to advanced chips, data centers, and energy – Washington should leverage technology alliances to translate and diffuse American innovation into an enduring advantage.
In a diffusion-centred strategy, India is poised to play a distinctive role. It offers scale through its market, population, and workforce, reach to countries in the Global South, and proven experience in deploying technology at a population scale through its digital public infrastructure. The two partners are complementary. India brings a large talent base, vast and diverse amounts of data for AI training, and an expanding digital ecosystem with a breadth of use-cases to the partnership. Combined with US strengths in research and development, advanced AI and semiconductor capabilities, and access to capital to finance innovation and infrastructure at scale, the partnership has the potential to materially advance AI deployment. Washington’s wager is the extent to which a partnership with India can accelerate US-driven AI diffusion beyond India’s market and into third countries where AI infrastructure and governance choices are still being made.
US-India Cooperation: From Nuclear Technology to AI Infrastructure
Technology has been a defining feature of the US-India relationship. Going back to 2008, the “123 Agreement” on civil nuclear cooperation created a legal framework for the United States to export nuclear technology to India. Over time, the relationship expanded into defence, space, and high-tech commerce. In 2020, the first Trump administration elevated US-India relations to a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership, anchored in democratic principles and shared concerns about China’s geopolitical ambitions and influence.
Under the Biden administration, the US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) was launched in 2022, placing AI, quantum computing, semiconductors, and advanced communications at the centre of the agenda. The second Trump administration continued iCET but rebranded it as the US-India TRUST initiative, with a sharpened focus on AI and a commitment to work with private industry on a “US-India Roadmap on Accelerating AI Infrastructure.” It reflected India’s role in US plans for global AI diffusion.
Washington’s wager is the extent to which a partnership with India can accelerate US-driven AI diffusion beyond India’s market and into third countries where AI infrastructure and governance choices are still being made.
Despite bilateral relations with India off to a good start in the early days of the second Trump administration, the relationship quickly strained amid significant political tensions. Roadblocks emerged over US-imposed tariffs, India’s purchase of Russian oil, and broader political frictions over the US president’s account of having brokered a truce between India and Pakistan following Operation Sindoor. On the political level, the technology-focused agenda came to an abrupt halt.
Moving Forward, Again
A breakthrough to ease frictions at the principal level came in the form of an interim trade agreement framework announced on February 6, 2026, reaffirming negotiations on a broader bilateral trade deal at a later date. The White House announced it would lower its “reciprocal” tariff rate on India and rescind additional punitive tariffs linked to India’s oil imports from Russia. The joint statement also mentioned expanded “trade in technology products” and “joint technology cooperation,” referencing GPUs used in data centres as an example.
Beyond the announced framework, several developments in late 2025 and early 2026 helped re-focus cooperation opportunities between the world’s largest democracies and shift the US-India technology partnership into gear. The Pax Silica initiative, launched on December 12, 2025, signalled a commitment to foster AI innovation and investment to accelerate the buildout of a trusted AI ecosystem among US partners. India joined as Pax Silica’s10th signatory on February 20, 2026—an affirmation that India’s state institutions and tech industry can help shape a trusted AI ecosystem within an emerging US-led technology alliance.
India joined as Pax Silica’s10th signatory on February 20, 2026—an affirmation that India’s state institutions and tech industry can help shape a trusted AI ecosystem within an emerging US-led technology alliance.
Most recently, India’s hosting of the 2026 AI Impact Summit underscored India’s AI ambitions and geopolitical weight as a convener, bringing together broad international participation, including leading AI firms. The Summit saw India pushing to bring the Global South into the fold of global AI deliberations and emphasising practical deployments focused on impact.
New Conditions and a Blueprint for AI Cooperation
As conditions have shifted, new momentum has created an opportunity to re-engage the US-India technology partnership on AI. A credible roadmap exists in the US-India AI and Emerging Technology Compact jointly published by ORF America and the Special Competitive Studies Project. Organised around four pillars, the logic is straightforward: diffusion succeeds when the partnership delivers tangible deployments (applications), sufficient compute and connectivity (infrastructure), a skilled workforce (talent), and aligned policies and rules that lower transaction costs and increase trust (policy).
First, the near-term priority should be applications that demonstrate impact in priority sectors, including public services, health, agriculture, and cyber defence. This should be supported by a public–private coalition that can run pilots, establish testbeds, and scale what works. Second, the United States and India should launch a comprehensive US-India full-stack infrastructure and technology programme covering compute, data, power, and cooling, so that infrastructure does not become a bottleneck for cooperation. Third, building mutually reinforcing talent ecosystems that leverage credentialing, apprenticeships, and joint research accelerators can ensure that talent pools meet next-generation industry demand and strengthen long-term competitiveness. Finally, policy alignment and standards cooperation, including conformity assessment, trusted data-sharing frameworks, and clear ownership and benefit-sharing rules, can reduce friction in business transactions and technical cooperation. Red tape, after all, remains a major concern for businesses.
AI Diffusion as a Shared Project
US-India AI cooperation is best understood as a shared project to shape AI diffusion: to ensure that the next wave of AI adoption runs on trusted technology and infrastructure based on aligned policies, interoperable standards, and resilient supply chains.
The India AI Impact Summit underscored that a real shift is underway. India received praise and accolades for its adoption of AI and an energetic AI ecosystem. And despite political tensions, US businesses have partnered with Indian companies and pledged large AI infrastructure investments, moving the US-India technology cooperation forward in significant ways. Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion in AI and data centre infrastructure, while Amazon plans major investment through 2030. Google has also announced large-scale commitments tied to AI infrastructure buildout, while Indian conglomerates Andani Group and Reliance Industries have expanded partnerships to accelerate domestic AI capabilities. OpenAI and Anthropic have set up offices in India, and OpenAI has indicated India is on track to become one of its largest markets.
US-India AI cooperation is best understood as a shared project to shape AI diffusion: to ensure that the next wave of AI adoption runs on trusted technology and infrastructure based on aligned policies, interoperable standards, and resilient supply chains.
If Washington and New Delhi can recover from recent political tensions and prioritise early wins across applications, infrastructure, talent, and policy, the US-India technology alliance can become a durable driver of democratic AI diffusion. Delivering these wins is critical as AI leadership is measured by ecosystems, not political announcements or frontier models alone. The US-India technology partnership can play an essential role in shaping the global AI order – and make the difference between a fragmented technology order and a resilient, democratic, and widely adopted AI ecosystem.
Dr Andreas Kuehn is a Senior Fellow at ORF America.