Microsoft to invest $3bn on AI, cloud capacity in India
Tech giant joins growing US investment to tap country’s 1.4-billion population and cheap internet costs
07 January 2025 - 14:19
byAditya Soni and Deborah Sophia
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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Picture: STEPHEN BRASHEAR/GETTY IMAGES
Bengaluru — Microsoft will invest about $3bn to expand capacity for artificial intelligence (AI) and its Azure cloud-computing services in India, CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday.
The tech giant is the latest to pledge investment in India, a country seen as an important growth market for US technology companies thanks to its population of more than 1.4-billion and low-cost internet access.
Executives including Nvidia CEO chief Jensen Huang an Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun have visited India in recent months.
The $3bn investment in India would be the “single largest expansion” done in the country, Nadella said at a conference in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
Microsoft will also train 10-million people in AI in India by 2030, Nadella said.
When Nadella visited India early last year, he announced the company would provide 2-million people in the country with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, focused on training people in smaller cities as well as rural areas.
Nadella met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, and the pair discussed “tech, innovation and AI” and “Microsoft’s ambitious expansion and investment plans in India”.
Microsoft has been pouring billions of dollars into expanding capacity across the globe to boost AI infrastructure and its data-centre network.
The company last week unveiled plans to invest about $80bn in fiscal 2025.
The investment, more than half of which will be in the US, will focus on developing data centres to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Microsoft to invest $3bn on AI, cloud capacity in India
Tech giant joins growing US investment to tap country’s 1.4-billion population and cheap internet costs
Bengaluru — Microsoft will invest about $3bn to expand capacity for artificial intelligence (AI) and its Azure cloud-computing services in India, CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday.
The tech giant is the latest to pledge investment in India, a country seen as an important growth market for US technology companies thanks to its population of more than 1.4-billion and low-cost internet access.
Executives including Nvidia CEO chief Jensen Huang an Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun have visited India in recent months.
The $3bn investment in India would be the “single largest expansion” done in the country, Nadella said at a conference in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
Microsoft will also train 10-million people in AI in India by 2030, Nadella said.
When Nadella visited India early last year, he announced the company would provide 2-million people in the country with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, focused on training people in smaller cities as well as rural areas.
Nadella met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, and the pair discussed “tech, innovation and AI” and “Microsoft’s ambitious expansion and investment plans in India”.
Microsoft has been pouring billions of dollars into expanding capacity across the globe to boost AI infrastructure and its data-centre network.
The company last week unveiled plans to invest about $80bn in fiscal 2025.
The investment, more than half of which will be in the US, will focus on developing data centres to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.
Reuters
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