India's Richest Man Now Going After Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Glasses — After Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Pepsi And Netflix

On Friday, Reliance Industries Ltd., led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, unveiled a wave of ambitious artificial intelligence and consumer tech initiatives, including Jio Frames smart glasses, signaling a direct challenge to Meta Platforms Inc.'s (NASDAQ:META) wearable tech push and other global giants.

Jio Frames Debut Marks Reliance's Entry Into Smart Glasses

At Reliance Jio Infocomm's annual general meeting, Chairman Akash Ambani introduced Jio Frames, an AI-powered wearable platform designed for the Indian market.

The device supports multiple Indian languages through Jio's multilingual AI voice assistant and features a built-in camera capable of high definition photography, video recording and livestreaming.

"You can make calls, attend meetings, listen to music, or enjoy podcasts," Ambani said.

The glasses can also narrate book summaries, provide recipes and store data on Jio AI Cloud, the company's consumer cloud platform with over 40 million users.

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Ambani Unveils $50 Billion AI Infrastructure And Global Partnerships

Mukesh Ambani also announced the launch of Reliance Intelligence, a new subsidiary aimed at building a national AI backbone. The company is partnering with Alphabet Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Cloud to develop a dedicated AI cloud region starting in Jamnagar, Gujarat and has entered a joint venture with Meta worth about $100 million to deploy Llama-based enterprise AI tools.

The partnerships underscore Reliance's strategy to make India a global AI hub, with plans to expand Jio Platforms internationally and file for an IPO by the first half of 2026.

Ambani's Expanding Empire Takes On Global Brands

Reliance has been rapidly diversifying beyond telecom.

In 2023, the company entered the coffee market through a franchise partnership with Pret A Manger to compete with Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), revived its iconic Campa Cola brand to challenge Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) and PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP).

Reliance’s streaming platform, JioCinema, underwent significant expansion. The platform streamed major events like the Indian Premier League for free, attracting a large user base. In February, JioCinema merged with Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE:DIS) Disney+ Hotstar to form JioHotstar, closely rivaling Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Previously, the company also launched ultra-low-cost devices, including the JioDive VR headset priced under $16, Jio Bharat internet phones at $12 and Jio Tag trackers to rival Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL) AirTag.

Ambani, India's richest person, has a net worth of $96.5 billion, making him the 19th wealthiest individual globally, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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