As global technology corporations compete for artificial intelligence (AI) talent, India is emerging as a new battleground. Campuses equipped with welfare facilities, typical of those found in Silicon Valley, are being established across India, accelerating the creation of an environment for attracting talent.
On the 19th, Google officially opened its fourth and largest campus in India, located in Bangalore, the country's IT hub. The new campus is named "Ananta," which means "infinite" in Sanskrit. It features quiet working spaces as well as a cricket field, mini-golf course, and relaxation areas with hammocks. Additionally, a large daycare center decorated in Google's representative colors has been established to support employee childcare.
Bloomberg noted, "The establishment of such a campus in Bangalore, India, signals that the competition for attracting talent in the country’s technology hub has intensified amid the AI boom."
Bangalore is referred to as "India’s Silicon Valley," serving as a key hub for the development of advanced technologies such as AI and autonomous driving. Global IT corporations like Microsoft (MS), Apple, Meta, and Amazon are also engaged in fierce hiring competition over India's vast pool of tech talent. Several global corporations, including Samsung Electronics and Arm Holdings, are currently operating research and development (R&D) centers in Bangalore.
Atushoshi Sharma, a senior analyst at Forrester Research in India, said, "India is the optimal starting point for securing high-quality tech talent on a large scale," adding that "the establishment of research and development (R&D), innovation, and digital capability centers by many global corporations in India is a natural phenomenon."
Currently, India is reported to have over 5 million programmers, with about 1.5 million new engineers graduating from universities each year. Additionally, India is one of the fastest-growing digital markets in the world, with millions of new internet users joining annually, leading to a surge in online shopping, video streaming, and social media content consumption.
Thanks to this environment, not only IT corporations but also various multinational companies such as global retailers and Wall Street financial firms are operating "Global Capability Centers (GCC)" in India. According to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), 1.9 million people are currently employed at India’s GCC, and this number is expected to increase to 2.5 million by 2030. In particular, many corporations are continuously expanding their investments in AI technology development.
As Bangalore's IT industry rapidly grows, the city is also facing challenges. The fast pace of development has exacerbated issues such as severe traffic congestion, indiscriminate construction, and rising housing costs. However, experts predict that the explosive growth of the AI industry, coupled with changes in U.S. immigration policy, will lead to an influx of more IT and engineering jobs into Bangalore in the future.