India and Brazil plan a critical minerals and AI alliance amid a fragile world order

Brazil and India are set to strengthen cooperation on critical minerals and artificial intelligence when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the two nations position themselves as leading voices for the developing world amid a fragile global order.

Lula will hold bilateral talks with India’s Modi on Saturday after attending the AI Summit. He arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday on a three-day visit, his fourth as president.

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The two sides are discussing a framework agreement on cooperation in critical minerals and rare earths, which could be announced after the leaders’ talks in New Delhi, according to Indian officials familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the talks are private. Brazil, home to the world’s second-largest reserves of rare earths, also wants a more inclusive global debate on AI, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for further information.

Lula’s visit comes at a time when emerging economies are seeking greater influence over the technologies and supply chains reshaping the global order. As competition between the US and China intensifies over artificial intelligence and critical minerals, closer cooperation between countries like Brazil and India could strengthen the collective clout of developing nations in shaping how the technology is developed and regulated.

New Delhi and Brasilia sought closer ties as US President Donald Trump slapped both countries with 50% tariffs. Modi visited Brazil in July, where the two agreed to work closely on defense, energy, food security, and to reduce “non-tariff barriers” to increase trade, according to the July joint statement.

Lula is accompanied by senior members of his cabinet and several industry leaders who will participate in a business forum, reflecting growing trade and commercial engagements between the two countries, India’s External Affairs Ministry said.

The two leaders again met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg in November as part of India-Brazil-South Africa trilateral grouping — the so-called IBSA forum — which was convened after decade-long gap.

Critical Minerals

Both nations want to enter into processing of critical minerals rather than remaining suppliers of raw materials. China currently dominates both extraction and processing, with countries including the US are racing to secure alternative sources and partnerships.

The decisions are likely to influence how emerging economies coordinate on rare earth processing and AI regulation in multilateral forums such as the Group of 20 nations and the BRICS bloc, of which both are members, to prevent concentration of resources in few capitals.

Brazil and India are pushing for people-centric, open-source, multilingual artificial intelligence models. Modi has used the AI summit in Delhi to showcase the country’s vast, tech-savvy population and deep engineering talent as evidence that it can offer an alternative to AI models shaped by major global technology firms, a sentiment shared by the Brazilian leader.

“Design and develop in India. Deliver to the world, deliver to humanity,” Modi said during his keynote address at an AI summit in New Delhi on Thursday.

Brazil’s aim is to avoid the sort of geopolitical divide that emerged around nuclear energy in which only a handful of nations were allowed to use the technology, according to an official with knowledge of the situation. It will advocate for democratizing access while strengthening safeguards against disinformation, algorithmic bias and digital manipulation, foreign ministry officials said ahead of the visit.

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The South American nation has emerged as a regional hotspot for AI-related investments, securing a $38 billion commitment from ByteDance’s TikTok to build a massive data center complex late last year. Elea Data Centers, a company backed by Goldman Sachs, also has plans for a $50 billion project in Rio de Janeiro, and Brazil’s Congress is currently weighing legislation aimed at attracting even more investment into data centers.

Lula, meanwhile, has pushed for a global approach to AI that includes voices from developing nations like his own, arguing that global superpowers shouldn’t hold exclusive control over the technology or rules that govern it.

“The governance framework for these technologies will determine who participates, who is exploited and who is left on the sidelines of this process,” Lula said in a speech at the AI summit. “Putting human beings at the center of our decisions is an urgent task.”

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Brazil has in recent years taken an aggressive approach toward tech regulation in an effort to rein in the spread of disinformation, often clashing with large platforms, like Elon Musk’s X social media site, that are largely based in the US.

“When a few control the algorithms and digital infrastructure, we are not talking about innovation, but domination,” the Brazilian leader said. “Regulating so-called big tech companies is tied to the imperative of safeguarding human rights in the digital sphere, promoting information integrity and protecting our countries’ creative industries.”

New Delhi and Brasilia are members of both G-20 and BRICS. India holds the rotating presidency of the BRICS and will be hosting leaders later in the year.