'India's Engineering Talent Give It AI Advantage Over China,' Top US Official Tells NDTV

The United States wants to work with India to build an artificial intelligence ecosystem spanning everything from critical minerals to advanced AI models, with India uniquely positioned to compete with China because of its engineering talent, a senior Trump administration official told NDTV.

Jacob Helberg, the US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment, said India occupied a unique position in the global AI race because of the depth of its engineering workforce.

"As I mentioned during my talk, India is the only country on earth that rivals China as far as the depth of its engineering talent pool. And so in that respect, it really does have unique advantages," Helberg said in the exclusive interview.

Asked how Washington and New Delhi could work together amid growing strategic competition with China, Helberg said the focus should be on building a positive technology partnership rather than simply competing with Beijing.

"The US and India are going to work together on China by creating an AI developer ecosystem that is positive, something that is based on complementarity, and that really spans the full stack from minerals to magnets to models."

"And so we're very excited to work with the Indians on this," he said.

Helberg's remarks come as India and the United States are expanding cooperation in artificial intelligence, semiconductors, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing under a broader technology partnership aimed at building trusted supply chains and reducing dependence on China.

Earlier in the day, speaking at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum Leadership Summit, Helberg described India as America's most important long-term technology partner, arguing that Washington wanted to work with New Delhi to build resilient AI supply chains and a shared developer ecosystem.