Apple’s Tim Cook calls India ‘huge opportunity’ after tech meeting at White House with Prime Minister Modi

Published

2 years ago

June 26, 2023

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US President Joe Biden looks on as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during a meeting with senior officials and CEOs of American and Indian companies, in the East Room the White House in Washington, DC, on June 23, 2023.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

The CEOs of Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft got a healthy does of facetime with the leader of India this week, who was in the U.S. to meet with President Biden as well as other political and business leaders.

The tech company execs spent over an hour with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inside the White House on Friday, discussing opportunities and challenges in investing in India. Earlier in the week, Modi met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

After the meeting concluded at the White House, Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC that India represents a “huge opportunity.” When asked if Apple would continue expanding there, he pointed to the two retail stores the company opened in India earlier this year.

It was the first state visit to the U.S. for Modi, who became prime minister in 2014. Following Friday’s meeting, the White House said Google will be working with the Indian Institute of Science on open sourcing of speech data for artificial intelligence models.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was also in Washington for the event. Two people with knowledge of the matter said Altman and Modi discussed opportunities to collaborate on AI.

Hemant Taneja, CEO of venture capital firm General Catalyst, attended the roundtable. Ahead of the meeting, he shared with CNBC his intentions to find alignment on efforts to streamline technology transfer rules between the U.S. and India, which has overtaken China as the world’s most-populous country. U.S. relations with China have become increasingly strained in the past few years.

We are in a digital cold war with China, and this approach will ultimately foster an atmosphere of increased cooperation,” Taneja said.

Large semiconductor companies like Micron and Applied Materials used Modi’s visit as an opportunity to announce plans to make significant investments India. Micron is aiming to open a facility in Modi’s home state of Gujarat as the broader chip industry looks for ways to diversify its supply chain. Lam Research revealed plans to train 60,000 Indian engineers.

Access to highly skilled labor and outdated labor laws are challenges for American businesses when it comes to staffing up in India.

“U.S. companies in India have had difficulties over time with regulatory uncertainty as well as challenges in relocating or terminating employees,” said Kenneth Juster, former U.S. Ambassador to India. Juster, who’s now a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said he remains optimistic, adding that India has pledged to ease the process for foreign companies to do business there.

WATCH: Big tech CEOs meet with Biden

Big Tech CEOs meet with Biden and Indian PM Modi

Technology

Social media users report Netflix outage during ‘Stranger Things’ premiere

Published

6 hours ago

November 27, 2025

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Social media users report Netflix outage during 'Stranger Things' premiere

A Netflix logo is on display at the Lucca Comics & Games 2025 event, one of Europe’s largest pop culture conventions, as stars and creators of “Stranger Things” series launch Season 5, in Lucca, Italy, October 31, 2025.

Claudia Greco | Reuters

Users on social media posted that they were experiencing issues with Netflix’s service on Wednesday, the night of the widely anticipated “Stranger Things” fifth-season premiere.

DownDetector.com on Wednesday said “User reports indicate problems at Netflix.”

“Netflix fix your app bro,” one X user posted.

Users began reporting issues with Netflix around 7:40 p.m. Eastern, according to DownDetector.com. Netflix had said the latest season of “Stranger Things” would go live Wednesday at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Netflix said it would release the first four episodes of the “Stranger Things” fifth season on Wednesday. The streaming service has said it will release another three episodes on Dec. 25 and the final episode of the show on Dec. 31.

The company did not respond to a request for comment.

This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.

Technology

CNBC Daily Open: An early Thanksgiving celebration in U.S. markets

Published

6 hours ago

November 27, 2025

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CNBC Daily Open: An early Thanksgiving celebration in U.S. markets

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Nov. 26, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Thanksgiving in the U.S. takes place on Thursday stateside, but the feasting might have begun a day early for investors. The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite all recorded a fourth straight day of gains.

Shares of Oracle, which have been hobbling along in November after wiping out its one-day spike in September, advanced roughly 4% after Deutsche Bank said that its recent price pullback “presents an attractive entry point for investors when looking at Oracle’s business in totality.” Other technology and AI-related stocks, such as Nvidia and Microsoft, rose in sympathy.

“Thanksgiving week is generally a strong week in the markets. Everyone’s feeling good,” said Eric Diton, president and managing director at The Wealth Alliance.

It’s what happens after Thanksgiving that might cause some pause.

The futures market is now pricing in a roughly 85% chance the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point in December. When expectations are too high — and not met — disappointment will be all the more painful.

“If the Fed disappoints, you could have a sell-off,” Diton said — but added, “I don’t think they will.”

And if White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett does assume the role of Fed chair when Jerome Powell vacates his seat, rates could trend even lower in the future, wrote Bank of America economist Aditya Bhave.

Looser monetary policy tends to provide more support for stocks — that notion seems to be behind optimistic targets for the S&P 500 by the end of 2026. So far, the numbers that have been floated are 7,400 from CFRA Chief Investment Strategist Sam Stovall, and as high as 8,000 from JPMorgan.

Investors indeed have much to be thankful for in 2025 — and possibly the next year as well.

What you need to know today

Fourth straight day of gains for U.S. stocks. Major indexes closed higher on Wednesday, lifted by technology firms such as Oracle and Nvidia. Europe’s Stoxx 600 added 1.09%. U.K. banks climbed following the release of the country’s budget.

Apple’s smartphone shipments to overtake Samsung. The company will ship around 243 million iPhones this year, higher than the 235 million smartphones from Samsung, Counterpoint Research wrote. It’d be the first time in 14 years Apple will outstrip its rival.

UK unveils its Autumn Budget. Some measures Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday include tax breaks for startup employees and investors, and frozen income tax thresholds — which have been described as “stealth tax” for workers.

AI can replace 11.7% of U.S. workforce, MIT says. That’s equivalent to $1.2 trillion in wages across finance, health care and professional services. The study, which was released Wednesday by the university, created a simulation of 151 million U.S. workers.

[PRO] The S&P 500 to hit 8,000 next year? A JPMorgan strategist thinks the broad-based index will end 2026 at 7,500, roughly 10% higher than Wednesday’s close. But if certain events happen, he thinks the S&P 500 could touch even higher levels.