India, Dec. 22 -- India talks about artificial intelligence constantly. We talk about startups, funding rounds, talent pipelines, innovation rankings. These markers dominate conferences, policy panels, and headlines. Yet the most consequential question about AI is still asked too rarely and too softly: where does intelligence physically live? The answer is inconvenient for a software-first narrative. Intelligence today lives where infrastructure can support it.

Despite its digital image, artificial intelligence is no longer just code floating in the cloud. It depends on power grids that do not fail, cooling systems that work through heatwaves, land that can be secured at scale, fibre networks with low latency, and long-term contracts tha...