Happy Thursday! SoftBank's Masayoshi Son outlined plans to make India a global chip hub, during his India visit. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch. Also in the letter: ■ NPCI’s plans for net, mobile banking ■ Nykaa acquires Earth Rhythm ■ Ola Electric shares jump 20% Vision for India: A bright Sonrise in the chip sky SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and portfolio founders and CEOs on Wednesday as part of his ongoing India visit.
Tell me more: In one-on-one conversations with several Indian entrepreneurs from SoftBank’s portfolio, Son said he plans to make India the chip capital of the world amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. He also told the top bosses about how they should think of AI in a non-linear way and map a vision for the next decade. Kalyan Krishnamurthy of Flipkart, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, Ritesh Agarwal of Oyo, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart and Albinder Dhindsa of Blinkit were present at the meeting.
What’s the plan: The Japanese billionaire’s plans include involving British semiconductor design company Arm Holdings to help India churn out 1 million chip designers by tying up with universities and institutions, a person in the know said. He also said that as much as $9-12 trillion in capital expenditure is expected to flow into AI infrastructure. Financials: Son’s visit coincides with SoftBank’s robust earnings performance where Indian IPOs have boosted its bottom.