Microsoft has announced plans to invest $3 billion in India’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) sector over the next two years. The investment, the company’s largest in the country to date, aims to expand Microsoft’s Azure cloud and AI capacity in India.
According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the investment will also be used to upskill Indians in AI, with the goal of training 10 million people by 2030. Last year, the company upskilled 2.4 million people in India.
India is a key growth market for Microsoft, with the country’s tech expertise and low costs making it an attractive location for investment. The company has over 20,000 employees across 10 Indian cities and has seen significant contributions from Indian developers to its AI projects, including GitHub Copilot.
The investment is part of Microsoft’s broader plans to invest $80 billion in AI-enabled data centers globally in fiscal year 2025. The company is under pressure to show returns on its AI investments, but its GitHub platform has already generated an annual run rate of $2 billion.
Nadella’s announcement was made during a conference in Bengaluru, where he highlighted the importance of India’s tech community to Microsoft’s success. The company’s investment is expected to have a significant impact on India’s cloud and AI sector, and will help to establish the country as a major player in the global tech industry.