Cisco Predicts Space Data Centers Amidst AI Boom

With AI and advanced computing creating a need for huge data centres, tech giant Cisco’s senior executive Jeetu Patel has said the world is very soon going to see space data centres. Mr. Patel, president and Chief Product Officer at Cisco, said while green data centres are going to be very prominent soon, the next few years would witness those centres being built in the space to tackle infrastructure, mainly power, constraints. When you think of data centres, all the cooling that’s required for the data centers is huge as 90 per cent of the weight in a rack tends to be the cooling infrastructure, he said. It’s not the computer but the cooling that actually causes a huge amount of the weight, he said. “When you go into space, you’ve got solar, the intensity of solar is much higher than what you have on Earth and so the cooling can tend to be at a very different level of economic proportion than what you do over here,” he said. “And then the energy availability is much higher too. So I think there will be space data centres that are also being built out at the same time,” he said. -- PTI Tech giant Cisco sees India as a strategically very important market and will continue to invest there, its senior executive Jeetu Patel has said. Speaking to PTI during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, the company’s President and Chief Product Officer said India accounts for the largest concentration of its people outside the U.S. “Going ahead, India is a very strategic region for us and we have experienced tremendous amounts of growth over there,” he said. “We continue to make sure that we actually are moving our manufacturing in some cases also there,” he said, while giving an example of the Chennai facility that was launched about a year ago. “So, I think that India is a very strategic part of the world for us and we want to continue to keep investing in India,” he said. Patel said there’s a very strong public private partnership culture in the country and Cisco has been very fortunate to work with the administration over there. “Our goal is to continue to keep serving the best technologies that America produces so that they can have the best ability for generating tokens for AI,” he said. Cisco works with a multitude of different industries in India and it wants us to continue to do that, he said. “It’s one of our most strategic regions as we move forward,” said Patel who frequently visits India. -- PTI Fresh from a big victory in Mumbai municipal polls, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on January 19 said the ‘Third Mumbai’ being built would get huge investment commitments here, and the overall figure for the state will exceed last year’s record. Maharashtra had signed several Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) worth nearly Rs 16 lakh crore at Davos last year. Speaking after inaugurating the Maharashtra pavilion on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Fadnavis said Maharashtra is getting a very good response and that he feels there will be more MoUs this time, involving higher investment commitments, across diverse sectors. “All types of investments are coming, whether it is manufacturing, data centers, or infrastructure. And I think that we have had some discussions with people, and some discussions will also happen here, and then maybe our discussions will be finalized here, and later we will do it after going to India,” he added. “We are a gateway for Indian businesses to meet their foreign counterparts,” he said while also extending his best wishes for other Indian States seeking investments. -- PTI Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu is set to hold a series of high-level meetings with leaders of major global corporations on Tuesday (January 20, 2026) as part of Andhra Pradesh’s push to attract investments and strengthen its international brand image at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Chief Minister will begin the day by addressing the CII Breakfast Session on the theme “The Andhra Pradesh Advantage.” He is expected to highlight the state’s emergence as an investor-friendly destination, focusing on faster speed of doing business, port-led development, large-scale infrastructure creation, and the availability of skilled human resources. -- The Hindu Bureau Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu to court global investors at Davos Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu aims to attract global investments at Davos, showcasing the state's advantages for business growth. Anticipating sustained growth in its food delivery business, a top Swiggy executive said the company has yet to tap 85-90% of the market in India, and there are no plans for global expansion yet, given the huge potential available back home. Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Swiggy’s Food Marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor said India still represents a fairly large opportunity for change, as there is nothing on the cards right now for global expansion. And opportunities are there, not just in food but also in multiple other businesses across the country, he said. In food, particularly, we have been guiding the markets to an 18-20% growth rate year-on-year, and I think trends are holding up to that even if you look at our last quarter numbers, he said. Asserting that the food penetration level in India is way below not just Western numbers but even some Southeast Asian and Asian countries, he said this creates a huge headroom. “I think the work cut out there is not just to grow food delivery, which roughly grows about two times the food market, but the entire food sector can grow a lot if the entire ecosystem and the government come together,” he said. Asked about the size of the untapped market in India, he said it’s probably about 10-12% of India that has ever used food delivery, which means 85-90% has not. “And then we have the emerging consumer class that will soon join the market,” he said. -- PTI As AI expands into various aspects of life, top food delivery firm Swiggy’s Food Marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor has said it is providing democratized intelligence to all stakeholders, ranging from its top management to delivery partners to restaurants. Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, Mr. Kapoor said they are using Gen AI across their businesses and that it is already quite evolved. “For example, somebody calls customer service, and I have the ability through Gen AI to understand the quality of that discussion, and I can do something about it immediately. That’s a power that Gen AI is unleashing,” he said. “Most importantly, it’s democratizing a lot of things. It is telling restaurant partners what happened yesterday, which dishes moved, which didn’t. It helps our delivery partners understand where to go to get more maximum orders, and it has something for our leadership to understand what happened to the business yesterday,” he explained. Along with AI, robotics plays a key role, including in warehouses, Mr. Kapoor said. -- PTI The 56th World Economic Forum (WEF) kick-started on a musical note on January 19. The concert mirrored this year’s meeting theme, A Spirit of Dialogue, Børge Brende, president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, observed in his welcoming remarks. “Music knows no borders, it speaks no single language. A violin, a trumpet, a clarinet and a drum, they come together in perfect harmony, each unique, each essential, each voice making the whole more beautiful,” Mr. Brende said. Andre Hoffmann, Vice-Chairman at Roche Holding and Interim Co-Chair at the World Economic Forum, emphasised that the concert sets the tone for the meeting. He remarked, “The concert reflects the principles we seek to advance for the week: openness, collaboration, diversity and a responsibility to future generations.” Larry Fink, Chair and CEO of BlackRock and Interim Co-Chair at the World Economic Forum, agreed and reflected on how the many genres of music all coming together in one concert perfectly represent the goals of this year’s Annual Meeting. He had also delivered some brief welcoming remarks earlier. “To expose people to wider ranges of voices, to a wider range of ideas, maybe even an argument, but one that we have deeper understanding from,” Mr. Larry said. After these welcoming remarks, the concert commenced with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra performing alongside acclaimed violinist Renaud Capucon. On a large LED screen behind the musicians, an AI-generated visual installation responded dynamically to their sounds, the brainchild of artist and technologist Ronen Tanchum. -- ANI European leaders take the stage on January 20 ahead of Donald Trump at the gathering of global elites in Davos, as the US president dangles tariff threats in a bid to pressure the EU over Greenland. Mr. Trump is set to dominate the week at the Swiss ski resort, with a U.S. delegation already on the ground to promote an American agenda that has unsettled the global order cherished by the World Economic Forum (WEF). European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron will address the forum on Tuesday, along with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose countries have their own disputes with Mr. Trump. Europe is weighing countermeasures after Mr. Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries over the Greenland standoff. -- AFP A delegation from Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City), along with officials of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), will participate in the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, from January 19 to 23. GIFT City delegation to take part in World Economic Forum in Davos GIFT City delegation to engage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, highlighting collaboration and investment opportunities in India. Telangana is all set to showcase its long term growth vision, investor friendly ecosystem and transformative development agenda to global leaders during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2026 conclave at Davos in Switzerland from January 19 to 23. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, who will lead a high level delegation to Davos, will host CEOs of leading global companies, industry representatives and eminent personalities from different sectors at an exclusive programme during the three-day event to promote Telangana Rising 20247 vision and roadmap charted by the Government. Telangana to showcase its growth vision and investor friendly ecosystem at WEF 2026 in Davos Telangana aims to attract global investments at WEF 2026, showcasing its growth vision and innovative development strategies. Aiming to attract investments in high-tech and green industries, the Kerala government is sending a high-level delegation led by Industries Minister P. Rajeeve to the World Economic Forum summit in Davos from January 19 to 23. The delegation, which includes Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak, Additional Chief Secretary (Industries) APM Mohammed Hanish, and senior officials from the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), will seek to attract global investments and partnerships in the State’s priority sectors, such as hydrogen projects, electric vehicles, medical devices, electronics, IT, hospitality and emerging technologies. The State will showcase its ongoing transformation into a knowledge-based economy and industry-friendly ecosystem at its space in the India Pavilion. It has also rented an additional space outside the main venue to facilitate in-depth discussions, with the aim of securing expressions of interest (EOIs) during the Davos event itself. “The goal last time was to showcase our potential, but this time we intend to present an ecosystem that is highly conducive to investments. We topped the ease of doing business rankings and have emerged as a key hub for tech-intensive and collaborative green industries,” Mr. Rajeeve told The Hindu. Growing inequality between the rich and poor is the top-most economic concern for the youth across the world, while a large number of them want to run for political office rather than just critique, a new survey showed on Monday (January 12, 2026). The World Economic Forum’s Youth Pulse 2026: Insights from the Next Generation for a Changing World 2026 report sought to know how the next generation is interpreting, and responding to, rapid economic, political, technological and environmental change. Inequality top economic concern for youth globally: WEF survey A WEF survey reveals global youth prioritize inequality as a top economic concern, with many aspiring for political leadership. Geoeconomic confrontation will be the single-biggest risk globally in 2026, overtaking State-based armed conflicts and extreme weather events, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026. In India, however, the top risk is cybersecurity, followed by income and wealth inequality. Cybersecurity, income inequality & insufficient public services the top risks in India in 2026: World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum identifies cybersecurity and income inequality as India's top risks for 2026, amid global geoeconomic concerns. More than 5,000 armed forces personnel, snipers at vantage points, AI-powered drones and special tools to counter spywares and espionage — security is like never before in this small Swiss town this week. As the global elites start descending on the snow-clad skiing resort town for the five-day extravaganza of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, which begins on Monday (January 19, 2026), it is teeming with not just black business suits but also blue, black, and yellow hues — the colours of the jackets worn by the army, police, and other security personnel. World Economic Forum 2026: Davos fortified as it awaits global elites, from Trump to Zelenskyy Davos prepares for the 2026 World Economic Forum with unprecedented security measures as global leaders gather amidst planned protests. India is set for a power-packed representation at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in this Alpine resort town that will see the global elite discuss “a spirit of dialogue” in a fragmented world for five days beginning on Monday (January 19, 2026). U.S. President Donald Trump will be the biggest star among over 3,000 global leaders from government, business, academia, multi-lateral bodies, civil society, and labour unions. President Trump will bring along the largest-ever U.S. delegation to Davos, including at least five secretaries. Those expected include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, and also US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. WEF 2026: India readies power-packed presence before global elite India prepares for a strong presence at WEF 2026 in Davos, featuring key ministers and top CEOs engaging with global leaders. UN chief Antonio Guterres, who is currently in Switzerland, has cancelled his planned trip to the Swiss Alps town of Davos due to a bad cold, his spokesperson said. “The Secretary-General is currently near Geneva, Switzerland, where he is meeting with his Special and Personal Representatives and Envoys. Following these meetings, he will return to New York and has cancelled his planned trip to Davos due to a bad cold,” Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said at the daily press briefing Monday. Davos, the popular Swiss ski resort that hosts the annual World Economic Forum, is about 427 km from Geneva. Over the weekend, Mr. Guterres was in London, where he addressed a special commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the first meeting of the General Assembly. The event, organised by the UN Association of the UK (UNA-UK), took place in Methodist Central Hall, the very place where the first meeting was held, Haq added. Davos is hosting global leaders and business heavyweights as the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum began January 19 and will run through January 23. -- PTI