Microsoft pledges its largest Asian investment of USD 17.5 billion to build India’s AI infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities.
NEW DELHI: Microsoft has announced plans to invest USD 17.5 billion to build India’s artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Chief executive Satya Nadella called it the company’s “largest investment ever in Asia” in a post on social media platform X.
“To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing USD 17.5 billion… to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future,” Nadella said.
He made the announcement after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
Nadella thanked the leader for “an inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity”.
The announcement follows his earlier pledge this year to invest USD 3 billion in India on AI and cloud infrastructure over two years.
Global technology giants are aggressively courting more users in the world’s most populous country and fifth-largest economy.
US startup Anthropic unveiled plans in October to open an India office, with its chief executive also meeting Modi.
Google said the same month it will invest USD 15 billion in India over the next five years for a data centre and AI base.
OpenAI has said it will open an India office, noting ChatGPT usage there grew fourfold over the past year.
AI firm Perplexity announced a major partnership in July with Indian telecom giant Airtel.
India’s bid to become a global technology hub is colliding with increasingly tightening digital regulations.
Authorities are reportedly drafting plans to ensure smartphones have unswitchable satellite location tracking.
