Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced on Tuesday a significant investment of approximately $3 billion to expand the company’s artificial intelligence and Azure cloud-computing services in India.
This move underscores India’s growing importance as a key market for US technology firms, driven by its vast population of over 1.4 billion people and increasing access to low-cost internet.
Microsoft’s commitment is the latest in a series of investments from major technology companies looking to tap into the burgeoning Indian market.
India: a magnet for tech investments
Executives from leading tech firms, including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun, have all visited India in recent months, signaling the country’s strategic significance in the global tech landscape.
Nadella described the $3 billion investment as the “single largest expansion” the company has undertaken in India, highlighting the scale of Microsoft’s ambition.
Training 10 million people in AI by 2030
In addition to infrastructure expansion, Microsoft will also commit to training 10 million people in India in AI by 2030, further showcasing the company’s commitment to long-term growth and development in the region.
This builds upon an earlier pledge Nadella made during his visit to India last year, where he announced the company would provide 2 million people in the country with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, with a specific focus on training individuals in smaller cities and rural areas.
Strategic meetings and global expansion
Nadella met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, discussing “tech, innovation and AI” as well as “Microsoft’s ambitious expansion and investment plans in India.”
Microsoft has been strategically pouring billions of dollars into expanding its global capacity, focusing on boosting AI infrastructure and data center networks.
The company recently unveiled plans to invest approximately $80 billion in fiscal 2025, with more than half of that investment designated for the United States.
These significant investments are focused on developing data centers to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.
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