Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said India’s next large infrastructure investments must focus heavily on artificial intelligence, semiconductor chips and quantum computing. She was addressing the seventh edition of IITMAA Sangam, the IIT Madras alumni association’s flagship conference, in Bengaluru.

“So the next large investment in infrastructure would, I think, be AI, semiconductor chips, and building on them quantum,” Sitharaman said, according to ANI. She called for greater investment in AI hardware, training and skills, and said India still needs teachers and institutions that can continuously upgrade their capabilities to provide AI-based knowledge.

She urged micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to adopt AI solutions to improve productivity and compete globally, noting they need both technology and trainers. She also stressed the need for patient capital and new early-stage funding mechanisms for pre-revenue deep-tech and hardware startups.

Sitharaman said India can achieve growth of more than 10 per cent, which she called possible but demanding greater effort across sectors. The remarks, delivered at a conference themed “Atmanirbhar Bharat – Building a Self-Reliant India,” frame AI as “the next frontier” for Indian economic growth.