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Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, Consul General of India in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, said innovation, renewable energy, defence and space technology could contribute to the next phase of economic expansion. He was addressing the Innovators and Investors Series organised by the Indian People’s Forum on October 16.

The proposal comes as both governments pursue a target of $200 billion in bilateral trade by 2032. Trade reached $101.25 billion during India’s 2025-26 financial year, exceeding $100 billion for a second consecutive year, according to official figures.

Reddy urged businesses and investors to establish partnerships capable of taking emerging enterprises into international markets. Investment in technology businesses, he argued, could create additional commercial activity while linking the UAE’s capital providers with enterprises developing products and services in India.

His remarks were an assessment, not a new government commitment or forecast backed by contracts. Achieving the target would require substantial expansion across multiple sectors, including those already accounting for the largest share of bilateral commerce. The $200 billion figure is a bilateral merchandise trade ambition, not a valuation of technology investments or start-up fundraising.

India’s exports to the UAE totalled approximately $37.36 billion in 2025-26, while imports were about $63.89 billion. The UAE remained India’s third-largest trading partner and second-largest export destination. India was the UAE’s second-largest trading partner, according to diplomatic trade data.

The technology emphasis follows a September meeting of the UAE-India High Level Joint Task Force on Investments, where officials agreed to advance work on local-currency settlement, payment-system integration and central-bank digital currencies. Those initiatives are intended to make financial transactions and cross-border commerce more efficient. Officials also discussed cooperation in financial infrastructure, an area where payment interoperability could lower friction for businesses operating in both markets.

The task force also examined investment proposals involving manufacturing, food processing and logistics. Projects discussed included an integrated aluminium complex proposed for Odisha, a food park in Gujarat and opportunities for aviation and logistics development at Dholera.

At the Dubai forum, speakers called for greater participation by UAE investors in start-ups seeking financing, commercial partnerships and access to international customers. The gathering connected entrepreneurs with businesses and potential financial backers.

Two enterprises, JE Plus Healthcare and University Living, presented their business models. JE Plus Healthcare focuses on distribution and logistics for healthcare products, while University Living provides accommodation services for students studying away from home. Both were seeking investment to expand their operations. Their presentations illustrated the range of businesses seeking support, from physical supply chains to digital services for international customers.

Actor and investor Vivek Oberoi told participants that unsuccessful investments were part of entrepreneurship and that investors needed to recognise the lessons associated with business failures. He said he had invested in 35 companies, with mixed results across his portfolio.

Jitendra Vaidya, national president of the Indian People’s Forum, said stronger two-way investment could support commercial ties between the countries. The organisation’s business representatives encouraged investors to examine opportunities in technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics.

Mahesh Advani, convenor of the forum’s business council, urged UAE investors to consider start-up financing. Piyush Jhunjhunwala, co-convenor of its business and professional council, identified technology-led businesses as a potential destination for private capital.

Figures circulated at the event described a substantial start-up and venture investment ecosystem in India, including companies operating in financial services and advanced technology. However, the figures covered different categories of businesses and financing activity, making direct comparisons difficult without consistent definitions and reporting periods.

The bilateral trade framework rests on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which entered into force in May 2022. It reduced trade barriers across numerous product categories and provided a platform for wider business cooperation. Trade volumes nevertheless remain sensitive to energy prices, demand conditions and changes in the composition of imports and exports.

Government initiatives now include Bharat Mart, intended to support access to markets, and a Virtual Trade Corridor designed to simplify trade processes. Both form part of efforts to improve the movement of goods and information between the two economies.

The Dubai forum was organised by the Indian People’s Forum, a community organisation that also conducts business and professional networking activities in the UAE.

Japan’s foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that the initial project would cost approximately $10 billion, with construction scheduled to begin before the end of 2026. Expansion of production facilities could eventually raise the total investment to about $21 billion, although the second factory remains conditional.

The agreement forms part of a $550 billion Japanese investment commitment negotiated with President Donald Trump’s administration in 2025, alongside a reduction in American tariffs on Japanese vehicles and other imports to 15 per cent.

GlobalFoundries said the first manufacturing plant at its existing Malta campus would begin production in 2029. An additional investment of approximately $10 billion would finance a second facility, with a decision on that expansion expected before the end of 2028.

Japan will supply the investment capital, while GlobalFoundries will provide manufacturing technology, technical expertise and operational management. The factories will be jointly owned by American and Japanese interests under an arrangement intended to expand semiconductor output without requiring the company to finance construction itself.

The first plant is expected to produce approximately 900,000 silicon wafers measuring 300 millimetres annually when fully operational. A second plant would add comparable capacity, substantially increasing the company’s manufacturing footprint in upstate New York.

GlobalFoundries estimates that the initiative will support approximately 27,000 construction and associated supply-chain jobs, alongside more than 1,000 skilled manufacturing positions in New York’s Capital Region. Those figures are projections rather than employment already created.

The US Commerce Department will separately receive an equity interest of approximately four per cent in GlobalFoundries. Chief executive Tim Breen said the transaction would raise the government’s overall holding to about seven per cent. The company is majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company.

GlobalFoundries shares advanced after the announcement, reflecting investor interest in an expansion model that could increase manufacturing capacity while limiting construction expenditure.

The ownership arrangements distinguish the investment from conventional private-sector semiconductor expansion. Japanese financing will underpin the factories, while the American government will gain a larger financial interest in the operator and participate in the broader manufacturing initiative.

GlobalFoundries also agreed with the Commerce Department to revise an existing award under the CHIPS and Science Act, reallocating $955 million towards investments in silicon photonics, silicon-germanium technology and advanced packaging at facilities in Malta and Burlington, Vermont.

These technologies are used in communications systems and data centres, where manufacturers are seeking faster connections and more efficient processing of large volumes of information. The separate funding revision does not represent an additional Japanese commitment to the two factories.

Japan’s foreign ministry described the New York project as the first semiconductor investment under the bilateral Strategic Investment Initiative announced in September 2025. It said the initiative was intended to strengthen supplies of mature-node chips used in automobiles, industrial machinery, smartphones and artificial intelligence data centres.

Although attention has focused heavily on advanced processors for artificial intelligence, mature-node semiconductors remain essential components in vehicles, industrial equipment and connected devices. Their availability is important to manufacturers seeking more geographically diversified supply chains.

The first facility will be built at an established semiconductor manufacturing location, allowing the investment to draw on existing industrial infrastructure and a local workforce. However, the announced timetable does not mean projected production capacity will be available immediately when operations begin.

Breen said GlobalFoundries had been chosen because large fabrication projects required manufacturing expertise and operational capabilities alongside financing. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick welcomed the investment as a contribution to domestic manufacturing and employment.

The Japanese government expects the project to create commercial opportunities for its semiconductor equipment and materials suppliers. Tokyo Electron and SCREEN Holdings have expressed interest in supplying manufacturing equipment, while Tokyo Ohka Kogyo has indicated interest in materials and components.

Renesas Electronics, a major Japanese chipmaker supplying automotive and industrial customers, has expressed interest in purchasing output from the proposed facilities. Its participation could provide an important customer relationship as production plans advance.

Japan’s foreign ministry also identified smaller suppliers, including Fujikin and Kusakawa Seiki, as potential participants in the equipment and materials supply chain. Their involvement remains prospective, rather than a confirmed allocation of orders.

The technology, announced on Wednesday at Singapore International Cyber Week, uses a customised version of Google’s Gemma model to recognise manipulation in conversations and warn users before they transfer money or disclose sensitive information.

The partners have not announced a public release date, named supported messaging applications or published independent accuracy figures. Their announcement describes a model that messaging platforms and operating system developers could integrate, rather than a scam detection application already available for general download.

The initiative forms part of the National AI Partnership between Google DeepMind and Singapore’s government. It addresses fraud schemes that unfold through extended conversations, rather than relying exclusively on suspicious links, keywords or individual messages.

Google DeepMind said the model had been adapted using examples of scams involving impersonation of banks, public institutions and prominent local figures. Its training also covered regional fraud patterns intended to make fraudulent exchanges appear credible to Singaporean users.

The system operates through two stages to limit the processing demands placed on smartphones. A lightweight classifier initially examines incoming messages for possible threats, consuming relatively little computing power. Messages considered suspicious then undergo a more detailed assessment using the fine tuned Gemma model.

During the second stage, the AI examines a broader section of the conversation to assess whether the exchange displays patterns of manipulation. This contextual approach is intended to distinguish ordinary conversations from attempts to build trust before requesting payments, passwords or other confidential details.

Where the model identifies potentially fraudulent behaviour, it generates a warning on the handset, encouraging the recipient to pause and exercise caution. The alert is designed to intervene before a person acts on a scammer’s instructions, although the organisations have not disclosed measured reductions in fraud losses from using the system.

A central feature is that the analysis takes place locally. Conversations do not need to be uploaded for cloud based examination, an important distinction for messaging services that use end to end encryption to prevent intermediaries from reading message contents.

Mark Chen, director of trust and safety at GovTech Singapore, said the collaboration sought to identify targeted local scams in real time while keeping personal communications private. The partners present local processing as a way of reconciling fraud prevention with confidentiality.

The privacy safeguards also extend to development. Google DeepMind said the model was fine tuned inside a government managed Google Cloud environment described as a sovereign sandbox, where training material remained isolated.

According to the company, private citizen conversations and personally identifiable information were excluded from training. Instead, developers used anonymised datasets derived from scam reports and intelligence feeds. Testing included synthetic conversations and local material covering different scam categories and changing impersonation methods.

Those measures describe the development process and proposed operation, rather than an independent assessment of the finished product. The partners have not released detailed public benchmarks showing false positive rates, missed scams, battery consumption or performance across different smartphone models.

Singapore has strong reasons to pursue additional protections. Google DeepMind said scams account for more than half of crimes reported in the country, while cumulative losses since 2019 exceed S$4 billion. It estimated that social engineering schemes account for as much as 80 per cent of scam losses.

Such schemes often depend on prolonged interaction, with perpetrators establishing apparent relationships or authority before introducing requests for money. Detecting suspicious intent across multiple messages therefore presents a different technical challenge from blocking known fraudulent websites or telephone numbers.

The announcement comes alongside separate Android security enhancements unveiled by Google, including optional cloud assisted analysis in Google Messages. That service uses a protected computing environment, whereas the Singapore collaboration specifically centres on keeping conversation analysis on the handset.

The distinction is significant because the two approaches involve different arrangements for processing private communications. The Singapore model is designed to assess message content without transmitting conversations externally, although its practical privacy protections will also depend on how individual applications implement the technology.

Google DeepMind said its model was optimised for smartphones commonly used in Singapore. It has not specified the minimum hardware requirements, participating mobile manufacturers or whether the technology will eventually support additional languages and markets.

The company presented the programme on Tuesday as a proposed family of artificial intelligence-piloted aircraft intended for surveillance, strike and coordinated combat missions. Its smaller FWD Supreme Lite has completed taxi trials, founder Suhas Tejaskanda said, but no first-flight date has been confirmed.

The unveiling marks a further stage in the company’s effort to move from aircraft designs to flight-tested hardware. A static prototype demonstrates the proposed configuration rather than operational performance, and the aircraft’s advertised speed, range and combat capabilities remain development targets.

Flying Wedge envisages two principal versions. The approximately 250kg Supreme Lite is intended to test autonomous navigation, flight control and cooperation between aircraft. The larger Supreme Heavy is designed for longer-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations, precision strikes and missions conducted alongside other aircraft.

Company specifications for the heavier aircraft describe a flying-wing configuration measuring roughly 10 metres across, with an internal weapons bay and a payload of about 350kg. The proposed maximum speed is Mach 0.8 to 0.85, with cruising speeds of 500 to 600 kilometres an hour.

Flying Wedge also projects a range exceeding 1,500km and endurance of more than two hours, supported by satellite communications. Those figures have not been validated through publicly documented flight trials of the Supreme Heavy. Its propulsion and systems integration will be crucial to determining whether the design can meet them.

The company calls its operating concept the Mobbing Doctrine. It envisages groups of autonomous aircraft exchanging information and coordinating decisions during missions, rather than relying exclusively on individual high-value combat platforms. Under the concept, surviving aircraft would continue assigned tasks if others were lost.

Such coordination would require dependable communications, reliable target identification and systems capable of operating when links are disrupted. Flying Wedge says artificial intelligence will support navigation, sensor processing and mission execution, although the extent of human oversight during weapons employment has not been established in publicly available technical documentation.

Tejaskanda has described affordability and operational relevance as central aims of the programme. The company is also seeking foreign participation in an India-led development and manufacturing initiative called Operation Triple Seven. Details of binding investment commitments, production arrangements and customer orders have not been publicly established.

A Anbarasu, director general for acquisition at the Ministry of Defence, linked the initiative to the government’s emphasis on joint operations, domestic manufacturing and innovation. His remarks signalled policy interest in such technologies but did not amount to confirmation of a procurement contract or an operational requirement for the aircraft.

Flying Wedge has outlined plans to increase domestically sourced components and has identified the Defence Research and Development Organisation’s Manik engine as a potential propulsion option. The company has indicated that the proportion of locally sourced content could depend substantially on the engine eventually selected.

Its proposed navigation technologies include visual odometry, which estimates an aircraft’s movement by comparing successive camera images. The approach could supplement conventional satellite navigation where signals are degraded or unavailable, although its effectiveness in military conditions would need to be demonstrated through testing.

The Supreme programme joins international efforts to develop uncrewed aircraft capable of cooperating with piloted fighters or carrying out assigned missions autonomously. Such projects differ widely in maturity, from conceptual designs and ground tests to aircraft already conducting experimental flights. Their development does not establish that fully autonomous combat operations have been approved for routine military use.

Flying Wedge previously released footage of the Supreme Lite technology demonstrator undergoing development and ground preparations. Its earlier target of a first flight during the third quarter of 2026 has passed, making completion of taxi trials the clearest publicly stated milestone ahead of airborne testing.

The company separately develops Kaalbhairav unmanned aircraft and smaller interception and loitering-munition systems. Those products form part of its broader portfolio but should not be confused with the Supreme fighter programme, whose larger aircraft has yet to demonstrate its stated performance in flight.

Flying Wedge operates from Bengaluru’s Electronic City area. Its published product portfolio includes surveillance aircraft, interceptor drones and compact loitering munitions, alongside the proposed Supreme family. The company also lists agricultural unmanned aircraft among its products, reflecting its involvement in civilian applications.