In a major leap for global artificial intelligence infrastructure and sovereign computing capability, Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42 has teamed up with US chipmaker Cerebras Systems and multiple research partners to build a national-scale AI supercomputer in India boasting an unprecedented 8 exaflops of compute power. The announcement, revealed at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, marks one of the largest sovereign AI infrastructure projects ever undertaken in Asia and underscores rising collaboration between the Middle East, the United States and India in cutting-edge technology development.
This monumental project brings a new phase of computational strength to India’s rapidly growing artificial intelligence ecosystem. Under the agreement, G42, the Mohamed Bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) will construct the supercomputer on Indian soil, ensuring full data residency and compliance with domestic governance frameworks — a strategic move to widen access while protecting data sovereignty.
The scale of the infrastructure is staggering: 8 exaflops — meaning the system can perform eight quintillion calculations per second — represents a transformative expansion of India’s existing national computing capacity. To put this in perspective, it is nearly 19 times more powerful than the combined peaks of India’s current leading AI systems. The compute platform is designed to accelerate the development, training and deployment of large-scale AI models across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education and climate.
Executives from each participating organization emphasize the crucial role this infrastructure will play in global AI competitiveness. Manu Jain, CEO of G42 India, highlighted that “sovereign AI infrastructure is becoming essential for national competitiveness” and that the new system will help innovators become “AI-native” without having to depend on foreign cloud services. Emphasizing both speed and security, he stated that maintaining data within national jurisdiction is key to fostering trust and innovation.
This initiative follows broader strategic dialogue between India and the UAE. High-level discussions throughout 2025 and early 2026 — including the fifth India-UAE Strategic Dialogue and a state visit by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan — have deepened collaboration across defense, space, energy and technology sectors. The AI supercomputer project fits neatly within this expanded framework of partnership, as both nations seek to scale expertise and build infrastructure that supports long-term economic growth.
Beyond sheer performance, the platform is designed to be accessible to a wide range of stakeholders. Universities, startups, small and medium enterprises, and government bodies all stand to benefit from access to high-end compute resources that were previously out of reach due to cost or technical limitations. This democratization of AI infrastructure could catalyze breakthroughs in scientific research and commercial innovation alike.
Cerebras Systems brings its proprietary wafer-scale engine technology to the project, offering significant advantages in efficiency and performance over traditional GPU-based clusters. The technology enables faster training cycles for large language models and supports applications that demand massive parallelism, positioning the new supercomputer as a competitive alternative to conventional cloud-based compute platforms.
Institutions like MBZUAI are also expected to drive research forward using this platform, advancing AI education and helping build models tailored to domain-specific challenges and languages, including those relevant to India’s diverse population.
With this collaboration, India moves closer to realizing its ambitions under the India AI Mission, aiming not just to consume AI technologies but to lead in their creation and deployment. At the same time, G42 and its partners showcase how public-private and cross-national cooperation can reshape the global AI landscape, opening doors for future advancements in both technology and international partnership.