Heavyweights such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and the Fruity Cargo Cult Apple appear to be ignoring Donald Trump's demands that they invest in US and are ploughing ahead with multi-billion-dollar Indian plans, apparently unbothered.
It has been more than three months since the tariff row began, and India and the US are still haggling over a resolution. Yet, despite the lack of clarity, US Big Tech remain bullish on India’s market potential.
Executives from major American corporations and business groups, including FICCI and CII, told Dainik Jagran that the spat has done little to dent their optimism. Investment flows across technology, electronics manufacturing, and finance continue without pause.
Google, for instance, has just announced a colossal $10 billion (about €9.2 billion) outlay to build a data centre hub in Visakhapatnam, expanding its earlier $6 billion pledge made in 2024. The agreement is expected to be formalised later this month in New Delhi.
The move underscores Google’s long-term commitment to India as a digital powerhouse. The investment fits neatly with India’s data localisation policies and ambition to anchor more of the global tech stack within its borders.
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella is also getting in on the act. During his visit in January 2025, the Microsoft chief confirmed a $3 billion (around €2.7 billion) investment over two years to set up the company’s first dedicated artificial intelligence centre in India. The plan was finalised in July, right in the middle of the tariff standoff, showing how little the geopolitical dust-up has affected boardroom strategy.
American companies are increasingly teaming up with local partners to build hardware and tech ecosystems on Indian soil. Ordinary Theory, for example, has joined forces with Optiemus Infracom to make smart hardware for telecoms. Optiemus chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta said, “The era of Made in India hardware manufacturing is now beginning. Our aim is to realise the dream of a self-reliant India along with Make in India.”
Job’s Mob has also been piling on the rupees. iPhone exports from India have already topped $10 billion (around €9.2 billion), with shipments soaring 75 per cent in the first ten months of the year. The company now aims to raise India’s share of global iPhone production to 25 per cent by 2027.
Other US behemoths, including Boeing and Amazon, are ramping up operations in the country, betting that India’s vast market and improving infrastructure will outlast the short-term tantrums of trade politics.