Published 2026-09-01 | Version v1.0
Research ReportOpenPublished

India’s AI Power in a Distributed and Uneven Technological Order

Boundary Control, Strategic Autonomy, and Cognitive Security

Description

This research report examines India’s emerging AI power through the interaction of usable national capacity, technological dependence, boundary control, strategic autonomy, and cognitive security. It argues that India’s position is best understood as a distributed and vertically uneven mixed-control system: strong software capacity, digital public infrastructure, multilingual public technology, a large technical workforce, expanding compute access, and globally distributed technical networks coexist with dependence on externally controlled upstream technologies. The report distinguishes access from mobilizable capability, territorial presence from control, boundary power from boundary autonomy, and systemic influence from narrower bilateral effects. It concludes that India’s long-term AI power will depend on conversion, substitutability, resilient public infrastructure, selective boundary control, and the ability to preserve agency without full technological autarky.

Abstract

This research report examines India’s emerging AI power through the interaction of usable national capacity, technological dependence, boundary control, strategic autonomy, and cognitive security. Rather than treating AI power as equivalent to frontier-model performance, compute scale, or investment volume, it analyzes how technical, institutional, organizational, and infrastructural capabilities are converted into nationally usable power under conditions of uneven interdependence. India is used as a mechanism-rich case because substantial software capacity, digital public infrastructure, multilingual public technology, expanding compute access, and globally distributed technical networks coexist with continued dependence on externally controlled upstream technologies. The report distinguishes access from mobilizable capability, territorial presence from control, boundary power from boundary autonomy, and persistent systemic influence from narrower bilateral effects. It also examines how procurement, regulation, interoperability, substitution, and institutional conversion shape India’s ability to preserve agency without requiring full technological autarky. The report is based on publicly available evidence through August 31, 2026 and is intended as a theory-guided analytical study rather than a national AI ranking or predictive assessment.

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Keywords

  • India
  • AI power
  • AI National Power
  • AI Boundary Power
  • ANP
  • ABP
  • boundary autonomy
  • strategic autonomy
  • cognitive security
  • technological dependence
  • digital public infrastructure
  • DPI
  • IndiaAI
  • BHASHINI
  • UPI
  • MOSIP
  • India Stack
  • semiconductor policy
  • Global Capability Centres
  • GCCs
  • AI compute
  • public procurement
  • payment data localization
  • synthetic media regulation
  • interoperability
  • systemic influence
  • boundary control
  • mixed control
  • technological sovereignty
  • EPINOVA

Subjects

  • AI governance
  • India technology policy
  • Strategic studies
  • Technology sovereignty
  • Digital public infrastructure
  • Cognitive security
  • Semiconductor policy
  • Public procurement
  • Digital regulation
  • International political economy
  • Information integrity
  • Public policy

Recommended citation

Wu, Shaoyuan. (2026). India’s AI Power in a Distributed and Uneven Technological Order: Boundary Control, Strategic Autonomy, and Cognitive Security (Research Report No. EPINOVA–2026–RR-01). Global AI Governance and Policy Research Center, EPINOVA LLC. https://doi.org/10.67037/epinova.rr.2026.001

APA citation

Wu, S. (2026). India’s AI power in a distributed and uneven technological order: Boundary control, strategic autonomy, and cognitive security. EPINOVA Research Report Series, EPINOVA-RR-2026-001. Global AI Governance and Policy Research Center, EPINOVA LLC. https://doi.org/10.67037/epinova.rr.2026.001.

Alternate identifiers

SchemeIdentifierDescription
URLhttps://epinova.org/research-reportsOfficial EPINOVA research reports page
EPINOVA research report numberEPINOVA–2026–RR-01Research report number printed in the PDF
File nameIndia’s AI Power in a Distributed and Uneven Technological Order Boundary Control, Strategic Autonomy, and Cognitive Security.pdfSource PDF file name
Framework acronymANPAI National Power
Framework acronymABPAI Boundary Power
Analytical conceptBoundary autonomyTarget-side ability to switch, bypass, substitute, diversify, or internalize when another actor controls a critical interface
Application-domain lensCognitive securityCapacity to preserve trustworthy judgment, authenticated communication, operational continuity, and technological choice in an AI-mediated information environment
Attribution shorthandIndia PowerNationally mobilizable AI capacity demonstrably available to or exercisable through Indian national systems
Attribution map shorthandIndian PowerWider India-linked technological footprint associated with Indian-headquartered firms, Indian-origin professionals, and India-linked research or organizational networks

Related works

RelationIdentifierTypeDescription
IsPartOfhttps://epinova.org/research-reportsPublication seriesEPINOVA Research Report Series
IsSupplementedByhttps://github.com/EPINOVALLC/EPINOVA-ResearchRepositorySupplementary repository and structural archive
ReferencesWu, S. (2026). Two structures of AI powerWorking paperPrimary conceptual framework applied in this research report
ReferencesRBI payment-data localization sources, 2018–2022Regulatory documentsUsed for the demonstrated ABP case
ReferencesPIB IndiaAI and semiconductor sources, 2026Government releases and factsheetsUsed for IndiaAI compute, public AI deployment, semiconductor, BHASHINI, and DPI evidence
ReferencesMOSIP progress report 2026Institutional reportUsed for adjacent-DPI architecture-diffusion evidence
ReferencesChandra et al. (2024) and C2PA (n.d.)Technical guidanceUsed for cognitive-security integrity, provenance, authentication, and transparency concepts

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