USA Today Reports of India Displacing China as Silicon Valley’s Next Frontier

Silicon Valley on the west coast of the United States is filled with new and innovative ventures that look to the future and is known for its technological inventions that have transformed the world. There are several Indian Americans who have made new innovations that contribute to the transformation of the world and the way people perceive the future. Silicon Valley, in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, is home to hundreds of start-ups and global technology companies, with Google, Apple and Facebook among the most prominent.

Affirming the contributions of the Indian tech giants, the popular USA Today said last week in a news dispatch from San Francisco, “China may be a Silicon Valley obsession, but India increasingly is in the conversation and may soon displace its Asian neighbor as tech’s next big frontier.”

The first Indian Prime Minister of India to visit California in more than three decades, Modi over the weekend spent several hours at the headquarters of iconic companies such as Tesla, Google and Facebook. He also had interactions with the top CEOs including Tim Cook of Apple, Satya Nadella of Microsoft and Google’s newly-appointed Indian-origin CEO Sundar Pichai.

“The near-future was on full display last week,” USA Today said referring to Modi’s meetings in the Silicon Valley. “The Facebook of India is Facebook. The Google of India is Google,” Beerud Sheth, CEO of Teamchat, a communications app with employees in India and the U.S., was quoted as saying.  “In China, those services are banned,” he said.

Modi’s Visit Strengthened Indo-U.S. Bonds: American Lawmakers

The historic visit by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi to the United States last month has strengthened the bonds between India and the US, the two largest democracies of the world and opened up new avenues of co-operation, top American lawmakers have said.

“There are many different areas and sectors where the U.S. and India’s growing friendship will cover mutually beneficial ground. Prime Minister Modi’s second visit to the U.S. has allowed us to continue to strengthen those bonds and explore new opportunities for us to work together,” Democratic Congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, said.

Gabbard is the first ever Hindu Congresswoman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She was among the top American lawmakers to have met Modi and attended his address to the community at SAP Center in San Jose, California. During her meeting with Modi, she and other members of Congress discussed plans to build U.S.-India relations and promote technology partnerships. “Prime Minister’s 2-day tour of Silicon Valley included meetings with technology executives who offered their ideas and assistance in bringing India fully into the digital world,” she said.

Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who also met Modi in San Jose, said Modi’s visit to Silicon Valley is symbol of the collaboration and cooperation between the US and India. “Innovation and entrepreneurship are values that both of our countries excel at and serve as a model for,” he said. Among the members of Congress who attended the event were the Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi; Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee; Ami Bera and George Holding, co-chairs of the Congressional Caucus on Indians and Indian Americans; Eric Swalwell; Mike Honda and Jim McDermott.

Congressman Matt Salmon said the India and the U.S. were natural partners. “Our growing cooperation on issues like counter-terrorism, peacekeeping, and maritime security is a positive development for the region and the world,” he said. “At the same time, our economic and commercial ties have not kept pace with our deepening political ties,” he said.

“I am pleased to support the elevation of commercial issues in the recently concluded first U.S.-India Strategic and Economic Dialogue and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the U.S., where he heard ideas first-hand from entrepreneurs and business leaders in Silicon Valley on how we might advance our economic relationship,” Salmon said.

Following her meeting with Modi over the weekend, Congressman John Garamendi said that he raised the concerns of about the treatment of religious and ethnic minorities in India with the Prime Minister. He is Sikh Caucus Co-Chair. “I appreciate that Prime Minister Modi gave me the opportunity to discuss these critical issues. Rest assured that he knows where I stand and that the message of my constituents was heard loud and clear,” he said.