Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will not attend India AI Impact Summit: Here's what the company said

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will not be traveling to India for the India AI Impact Summit 2026, the company has said. The announcement cited “unforeseen circumstances” for the cancellation, as per a report by news agency Reuters. Huang is widely considered as one of the headline attractions for the five-day event, and was scheduled to address the media on February 18. Nvidia said that it is sending a high-level delegation to represent the company and reiterated its deep commitment to India’s rapidly growing AI and semiconductor ecosystem.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, Jensen Huang is unable to travel to India at this time. NVIDIA remains deeply committed to the AI Impact Summit and to India’s rapidly advancing AI ecosystem. A senior NVIDIA delegation, led by Executive Vice President Jay Puri, will be on the ground to celebrate India’s exceptional AI researchers, startups, developers, and the partners building the nation’s AI infrastructure,” the company said in a statement.

India AI Impact Summit 2026 dates and who is attending

The India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to be held from February 16-20 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, is the first global AI summit to be hosted in the Global South. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the 5-day event. CEOs and top executives of the biggest tech companies are all expected to attend. So are 15-20 heads of government, over 50 international ministers, and more than 40 Indian and global CEOs.

The summit is organised around three pillars called 'Sutras' — People, Planet, and Progress. These branch into seven 'Chakras' or working groups. Over 700 session proposals have been received. The attendee list include:

• Sundar Pichai (Google) & Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind)
• Dario Amodei (Anthropic)
• Alexandr Wang (Meta)
• Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm)
• Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto Networks)
• Shantannu Narayan (Adobe)
• Sam Altman (OpenAI) and others.

Indian industrial titans include:

• Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries)
• Sunil Bharti Mittal (Bharti Enterprises)
• K. Krithivasan (TCS)
• Nandan Nilekani (Infosys)
• N. Chandrasekaran (Tata Group)

Why Big Tech is lining up for AI in India

India generates nearly 20% of the world's data, and has the second-largest AI workforce as well as over 700 million internet users – providing a huge business opportunity for them to tap the growing base.

Anthropic has hired former Microsoft India MD Irina Ghose to lead its India operations while OpenAI has set up a dedicated sales division here. Google and Microsoft have partnered with the government to push AI in education. Recently, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 21-year tax holiday for data centres – seen as a welcome step to boost India’s IT sector.

The India AI Impact Expo spans over 70,000 square metres. It is expected to feature 300-plus exhibitors from 30 countries across seven thematic pavilions.

GN Awards 2025: Vote for your favorite Gadgets