Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Sep 12: The United States and India have joined hands to strengthen the security, resilience and diversification of global undersea cable networks, highlighting India's growing strategic importance as a global digital hub.
The US Embassy in India announced the partnership in a post on X, saying the two countries brought together government and industry experts in September for an "Undersea Cables Workshop" aimed at safeguarding critical subsea communication infrastructure.
"Undersea cables are the backbone of global digital connectivity powering economies, cloud services, and the AI revolution," the embassy said, adding that the United States and India were partnering to strengthen the security, resilience and diversification of networks that keep the world connected.
The initiative is being pursued under the US-India TRUST (Transforming the Relationship Utilising Strategic Technologies) Initiative, which places subsea cable networks among the critical infrastructure supporting global digital commerce, data centres, cloud platforms and the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence economy.
The US Embassy highlighted India's growing digital economy, rising demand for cloud and AI capabilities and strategic geographical position connecting major global markets as factors that could help the country emerge as a major global subsea cable hub.
US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor had earlier said in May that the TRUST initiative, launched during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Washington last year, was helping deepen cooperation between the two countries in critical and emerging technologies.
These areas include artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing, biotechnology, energy and space.
Gor said the United States was seeking partnerships with countries it regarded as trusted collaborators in emerging technologies, adding that "India's one of those partners."
The ambassador also highlighted India's participation in the Pax Silica initiative, a US-led network focused on trusted technology and resilient supply chains.
"The reason India was in the first top 10 countries around the world to join this is that we trust this place. We trust the people here, we trust the technology, we trust your government," Gor said.
He said India was joining "a network of trusted ecosystems and resilient supply chains" covering key technologies such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors and quantum computing.
The US-India TRUST initiative was launched to promote collaboration between the two governments, academia and the private sector in the development and application of critical and emerging technologies.
The initiative covers areas including defence, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum technology, biotechnology, energy and space. It also encourages the use of verified technology vendors and measures to protect sensitive technologies.
As a key pillar of TRUST, the two countries had committed to working with their private sectors to prepare a US-India Roadmap on Accelerating AI Infrastructure. The roadmap is aimed at identifying challenges related to financing, building, powering and connecting large-scale US-origin AI infrastructure in India, along with milestones and future actions.
The joint statement issued following Modi's Washington visit said the United States and India would facilitate industry partnerships and investments in next-generation data centres.
The two countries would also cooperate on the development and access to computing resources and processors for AI, innovation in AI models and the development of AI applications aimed at addressing societal challenges.
At the same time, the partnership seeks to establish necessary protections and controls for sensitive technologies and reduce regulatory barriers.
The latest cooperation on undersea cables adds another strategic dimension to the expanding US-India partnership in critical technologies, as secure digital infrastructure becomes increasingly important for cloud computing, artificial intelligence, international commerce and global communications.