India, Aug. 21 -- The race to leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) is usually discussed as a contest of algorithms, but that misses two other components - data, which trains the models; and compute, the physical machinery that turns both into working systems. Compute is both a matter of raw silicon power of chip infrastructure, but also increasingly of electricity to keep the chips running.

Meanwhile, the discussion around India's role in AI has focused largely on whether it should build the algorithmic capabilities, where it currently lags behind the US and China. On data, India's advantage is often overestimated: Value lies not in raw data alone but in having it categorised and tagged in a usable format, which remains a challenge...