New Delhi: Cisco will bring its sovereign critical infrastructure portfolio to India over the next few months, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins said, highlighting the country's scale and potential role in building trusted technology systems.
Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, Robbins said the portfolio, designed to address countries' concerns over data security and operational control, had already been launched in several European countries and recently in Canada.
“We have created a portfolio of what we call sovereign critical infrastructure that we have launched in several countries in Europe over the last year. We just launched it in Canada, and we haven't really announced it publicly yet, but over the next few months we'll be bringing that to India as well,” Robbins said.
He said India was among the few countries with the scale to develop critical technology capabilities, adding that its role in global technology supply chains could expand as countries seek greater resilience and control over their systems.
“India is one of the few countries that has the scale to take on some of the things that he's describing,” Robbins said, referring to Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's remarks on technology sovereignty.
Robbins said discussions with governments on sovereign technology had increasingly focused on keeping data within national boundaries and ensuring operational control over systems. He said companies needed to work closely with governments to understand their concerns and develop solutions that meet their requirements.
He also highlighted India's potential in semiconductor design and manufacturing, saying the world needed more capacity in the sector.
“The world needs more capacity in this space, too. So the world would welcome a friend like India who has that capacity,” Robbins said.
The Cisco chief said countries needed to balance domestic technology capabilities with partnerships, as building every part of the technology stack independently could be costly and time-consuming. He said companies also needed to consider their track record of investment, hiring, manufacturing and skills development in a country when assessing trust.
Robbins said India’s approach of developing capabilities in strategically important areas while partnering with trusted companies was a practical way to pursue technology sovereignty.
He added that technological problems could be addressed through engineering and industry cooperation, but geopolitical differences could make progress more difficult.
The discussion also featured Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, who said India was working to reduce critical technology dependencies while remaining integrated with global supply chains.