During the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on February 20, 2026, the Indian government announced ambitious plans to bolster its national compute capacity, marking a significant shift in its artificial intelligence strategy. This initiative reflects a growing awareness among policymakers that AI is a crucial strategic asset rather than simply a downstream technology.
The summit underscored a global movement toward a "sovereign AI agenda," where nations are reassessing their control over essential technologies such as chips and cloud infrastructure that impact public policy and economic growth. However, achieving true AI sovereignty poses significant challenges, particularly for emerging economies that face high costs and potential setbacks in technology development.
A study evaluating 775 non-U.S. data center projects revealed that U.S. firms manage 18% of these facilities, representing nearly half of all data center investments and a substantial share of AI funding. Even countries striving for self-sufficiency often depend on major U.S. tech companies, thereby perpetuating U.S. dominance in the global AI landscape.
As nations navigate these complexities, a more refined approach to sovereign AI is emerging. Instead of aiming for complete control over the AI supply chain, countries are starting to identify which elements they need to own while considering which can be outsourced, leading to a strategic focus on compute sovereignty for critical AI tasks.