Hyderabad, September 25, 2026: The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) hosted its inaugural Digital Infrastructure Summit 2026 in Hyderabad on Friday, drawing over 100 top business, technology, and policy leaders. The summit set out to chart a roadmap for the robust, secure digital infrastructure to power India’s next wave of AI innovation and digital growth.
Experts at the IACC Summit in Hyderabad highlighted the growing opportunity for India to build an AI ecosystem beyond frontier large language models, with industry-specific applications, digital public infrastructure and affordable access to computing emerging as key drivers
In her welcome speech, Dr. Sreedevi Devireddy, Chairperson, IACC Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, said, “India is on the cusp of an unprecedented digital revolution, where next-generation infrastructure will act as the ultimate catalyst for hyper-scale innovation. Looking beyond simple capacity, we are pioneering a sustainable future, scaling world-class data centers, expanding Global Capability Centers (GCCs), fortifying cybersecurity, and deploying secure, AI-ready technologies.
The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce is proud to unite visionary leaders from industry, government, and finance to bridge critical gaps and forge high-impact partnerships. Hyderabad and Telangana are uniquely positioned to power this ecosystem, and this inaugural IACC Digital Infrastructure Summit 2026 marks the launchpad for a sustained, forward-looking movement.” Sreedevi added.
The inaugural session at the IACC Summit 2026 set the tone for the day’s discussions on India’s digital infrastructure growth. Srikanth Badiga, Group Director, Phoenix Group, Chairman, SEZEPC (Ministry of Commerce & Industry, GoI), and Director, NEC, IACC, delivered the Theme Address, while Chandra Shekhar Sarma G, CISO & Director of Compliance, CtrlS Datacenters, delivered the Opening Keynote on infrastructure security. S. Purnachandra Rao, Former National President, IACC, and Managing Director, Global Infovision Pvt. Ltd., delivered the Special Address.
The IACC Summit’s technical sessions then turned the spotlight on the infrastructure needed to support India’s growing digital economy, with industry leaders discussing AI, investment, data centres, cybersecurity and sustainability.
The first panel at the IACC Summit, “Building India’s AI & Digital Infrastructure Capital,” moderated by Varma Konala, Co-Founder and CEO of Mahanim India, brought together Shyam Menon of Bharat Innovation Fund, Rahul Dhar of CtrlS Datacenters Ltd. and Padmini Gopalakrishnan of Agrani Labs. The discussion focused on venture capital, ecosystem development and scaling India’s AI and digital infrastructure.
The second panel, “Powering the Digital Economy — Resilience, Reliability, Security & Green Transformation,” examined reliable power, sustainability and cybersecurity as data centres expand to meet rising digital demand. Moderated by Srini Reddy of CtrlS Datacenters Ltd., the panel featured Dr. Paravastu Rambabu of Greenko Group, Krishna Sastry Pendyala of EY and Annapurna Kuchibhatla of Bajaj Electronics.
Together, the sessions at the IACC underscored that India’s digital growth will require not just greater computing capacity, but also capital, reliable energy, strong security and resilient infrastructure.
IACC Summit Spotlights India’s AI Opportunity Beyond LLMs, Chips and Data Centres
Addressing the IACC Summit, Ms. Laura Williams, Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad said that Mission 500, COMPACT, TRUST, and Pax Silica are not abstract frameworks — they are direct opportunities for investment, supply-chain partnership, and market access, especially here in Telangana and across South India.
As Ambassador Gor said: Our two countries have always built the strongest relationship from the ground up through entrepreneurs, engineers, and manufacturers who see opportunities in partnership rather than competition.
Chandra Shekhar Sarma G, CISO & Director, Compliance, CtrlS Datacenters, stated, “India’s digital transformation is entering a defining phase, with digital infrastructure evolving from an enabler to the foundation of the digital economy. The convergence of AI, cloud, hyperscale computing, edge and data-intensive applications is reshaping infrastructure needs. The next phase will be defined by speed to capacity, high-density compute, resilient connectivity, reliable power, sustainability and intelligent scalability.”
From software hub to AI infrastructure hub
The IACC Summit panel’s broader message was that India’s AI opportunity is likely to extend well beyond the race to develop frontier models. The convergence of AI applications, data centres, semiconductor systems and digital public infrastructure could create a wider technology ecosystem, with startups occupying specialised positions across the stack.
For venture investors, the opportunity lies in vertical AI applications and proprietary enterprise data. For data-centre operators, it means building significantly larger and more power- and cooling-intensive facilities. For semiconductor companies, it means developing chips and complete systems tailored to the needs of AI workloads.
The speakers at the IACC Summit noted that India’s opportunity extends across the AI infrastructure value chain, from chips and data centres to power, cooling, software and specialised applications, potentially positioning AI infrastructure as an important next phase of the country’s technology economy.
Established in 1968, the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) is the apex bilateral chamber synergizing India–U.S. economic engagement. Founded by Ambassador Chester Bowles alongside prominent industry leaders of the era, the IACC works continuously to deepen economic ties and trade between the two nations. Today, the IACC boasts a pan-India presence with over 1,500 members representing a wide cross-section of Indian and U.S. industries.
