In this podcast, businessline’s Thomas K Thomas is joined by Matt Hicks, President & CEO, Red Hat, where they talk about global tech spend, headwinds and opportunities, and India’s potential for the Linux company.

Hicks acknowledges the challenges Red Hat faces, including economic uncertainty and industry downturns, but remains optimistic about the company’s mission and the positive impact of open source.

Hicks emphasises three key focus areas for Red Hat moving forward. First is the focus on open hybrid clouds, enabling developers and operators to deploy solutions in various environments, including data centres, public clouds, and at the edge. This aligns with the growing importance of edge computing and AI.

The second area is the continued emphasis on containerization, which offers the mobility and flexibility needed to train AI models and deploy them across different environments.

Read: India is one of the hottest markets on the planet, says Red Hat CEO

Finally, Hicks talks about the importance of refining the core technology while still investing in new areas like AI. This approach ensures sustainable growth and fosters discipline in choosing where to invest in emerging technologies.

When discussing AI, Hicks shares that Red Hat focuses on the infrastructure, plumbing, training, and deployment of AI models, helping organisations refine their models using their own data without moving massive datasets. They also optimise AI inference, leveraging the power of their open-shift platform.

Read: Investments into data centres to rise to $10 billion over 3 years

Regarding data privacy regulations, Hicks believes that while they introduce challenges, they don’t necessarily fragment the technology landscape if there is a common technology base. Open-source technology, which transcends borders, can still thrive while complying with data privacy regulations at the local level.

In terms of India’s market and talent pool, Hicks expresses enthusiasm for India’s dynamic market and strong technical talent. He sees India as a significant engineering hub for Red Hat and anticipates continued growth in the region. Listen in.