Microsoft has announced a significant investment of $3 billion (over Rs 25,000 crore) in India, focusing on boosting the country's cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. This comes a day after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss technology innovation and AI advancements.
Microsoft, the world's third-largest company by market capitalization at $3.181 trillion, plans to make its largest-ever expansion in India. The investment will focus on enhancing Azure cloud capabilities and establishing new regional infrastructure across the country.
Satya Nadella highlighted that 17 million developers in India are currently active on GitHub, and the country is expected to become the largest hub of developers by 2028. Additionally, over 30,500 AI projects are being developed in India, showcasing its rapid growth in the tech space.
In line with its mission to empower every individual and organization, Microsoft has pledged to train 10 million people in AI skills by 2030. Nadella emphasized the importance of harnessing India's vast human capital to unlock opportunities in technology and innovation.
Speaking about the initiative, Nadella said, "Our goal is to ensure that India's human capital continues to grow and take advantage of the immense opportunities in technology."
Before announcing the investment, Nadella met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Their discussions revolved around technology innovation, AI advancements, and how India can play a pivotal role in the global tech ecosystem.
Microsoft provides its cloud computing services under the Azure brand name. It has over 60 Azure regions comprising more than 300 data centres.
"In India, we are excited about all the regions that we have. We have Central India, South India, West India, and South Central India. We also have the capacities that we built up with Jio. We have a lot of regional expansion happening," Nadella said.
This expansion is part of Microsoft's commitment to strengthening its regional infrastructure in India, making it the company's largest investment in the country to date. Nadella expressed excitement about the opportunity to contribute to India's growth and innovation through this substantial investment.
Microsoft currently operates three data centre regions in India and is set to launch a fourth by 2026.
"India is rapidly becoming a leader in AI innovation, unlocking new opportunity across the country. The investments in infrastructure and skilling we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to making India AI-first, and will help ensure people and organisations across the country benefit broadly," he said.
When Nadella last visited India in February 2024, he announced that, as part of the ADVANTA(I)GE India initiative, the company would provide 2 million people in the country with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, focused on training individuals in smaller cities and rural areas.
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