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Gautam Adani
Gautam Adani
Cofounder & Chairman, Adani Group
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Gautam Adani on global challenges ahead: ‘Future wars will be fought on grids, data centres, labs'

📅 May 11, 2026 ET Digital 8 MIN 12 SEGMENTS · 1 SPEAKERS
Gautam Adani says the future of global power will be defined by nations that control both energy and compute capabilities.

What Gautam Adani said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Gautam Adani argued that future national power will hinge on controlling energy and compute infrastructure, calling them the twin foundations of security. He said the US and China share the same strategic objectives in this regard, and that no nation can be self-reliant if it depends on others for energy or intelligence. Adani detailed his company's progress at Khavda in Gujarat, where 35% of a planned 30 gigawatt renewable energy plant has been commissioned, and stated total commitments toward the energy transition stand at $100 billion. He framed these investments as building the physical foundations for the digital future, emphasizing that AI requires data centers and reliable power. He closed by urging development for farmers, nurses, teachers, and small manufacturers, asserting that freedom in the 21st century means owning the energy and intelligence that shape the nation.

Key takeaways

  1. Adani stated energy security and digital security are now twin foundations of national power, citing the Middle East conflict.
  2. Adani said the US and China have the same strategic objectives on energy and compute despite different systems.
  3. Adani said 35% of the 30 GW Khavda renewable plant is commissioned, calling it the world's largest single-site project.
  4. Adani said total commitments to the energy transition stand at $100 billion.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
35% commissioned portion of Khavda renewable plant metric 5:01
30 gigawatt capacity of Khavda renewable energy plant metric 5:01

Chapters

  1. 0:00New geometry of power
  2. 1:19Energy and digital security
  3. 3:20US and China strategic alignment
  4. 5:01Khavda renewable plant progress
  5. 5:53Building for Bharat's workers
  6. 7:12Freedom as capability
Gautam Adani 0:00 ↗
Let us build for the small manufacturer who has a skill but needs intelligence to compete globally. The next battle will not be fought only at our borders. It will be fought on our grids, our data centers, our factory, our classrooms, our laboratories, and our minds.
Energy has returned to becoming the center of security discussions. Semiconductors have become instruments of statecraft. Data is being treated as a national resource. Clouds are being weaponized. And artificial intelligence is being built behind the protective walls of data centers.
What has become even more obvious from the recent Middle East conflict and targeted attacks on infrastructure is that energy security and digital security are no longer independent dimensions. They are now the twin foundations of national power.
And it is increasingly evident that the country that controls its energy will drive its industrial future. The country that controls its compute will drive its intelligence future. And the country that controls both will shape the century ahead. This is the new geometry of power.
Friends, if 1947 was about our political freedom, true independence in the 21st century will mean owning the energy that lights our homes and the intelligence that guides our minds. This is not a theory.
And the two largest economies in the world, the United States and China, have understood this deeply. Their systems may be different. Their politics may be different. Their institutions may be different. But their strategic objectives are the same.
No nation can call itself truly self-reliant if it depends on others for the energy that powers its economy or the intelligence that shapes its destiny.
We are builders. And in the intelligence age, building means creating the physical foundations on which the digital future will stand. The first foundation is energy, because there can be no AI without compute, and there can be no compute without data centers. And there can be no data centers without reliable and affordable power.
At Khavda in Gujarat, we have already commissioned 35% of what will become the world's largest single-site renewable energy plant, a 30 gigawatt project that will fundamentally alter India's energy geography. Our total commitments towards the energy transition stands at a hundred billion US dollars, making us one of the largest clean energy investors.
Let us build for the farmer who has always known his land but never had the tools to fully read it. Let us build for the nurse who has always had the instinct but never had the instrument. Let us build for the teacher in our school without a library who may soon have the world's knowledge in her hands.
Let us build for the small manufacturer who has a skill but needs intelligence to compete globally. Let us build for the welder, the technicians, the electricians, the operator, and the hundreds of millions of invisible hands that hold our country together every single day. These are the people of Bharat that AI must be built to serve.
The next battle will not be fought only at our borders. It will be fought on our grids, our data centers, our factory, our classrooms, our laboratories, and our minds. And freedom will mean capability. Capability to power ourselves. Capability to compute ourselves. Capability to dream for ourselves. It begins here. It begins now. And it begins with us.

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX
APA

Adani, G. (2026, May 11). Gautam Adani on global challenges ahead: ‘Future wars will be fought on grids, data centres, labs' [Interview transcript]. ET Digital. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/899662/

MLA

Gautam Adani. "Gautam Adani on global challenges ahead: ‘Future wars will be fought on grids, data centres, labs'." ET Digital, 11 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/899662/.

BibTeX 
@misc{adani2026_899662,
  author       = {Gautam Adani},
  title        = {Gautam Adani on global challenges ahead: ‘Future wars will be fought on grids, data centres, labs'},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, ET Digital. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {may},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/899662/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}