Microsoft will spend $3 billion to expand its Azure cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in India, CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday, doubling down on a country with technological expertise and low costs to help such investments are profitable.
The two-year investment, the largest ever in the country, will also be used to upskill Indians in artificial intelligence, a Microsoft spokesperson said, clarifying that this outlay is in addition to the company’s recently announced plan to invest 80 $1 billion in AI-enabled data centers. in fiscal year 2025.
India is a key growth market for American tech giants, with executives ranging from Nvidia boss Jensen Huang to Advanced Micro Devices CEO Lisa Su visiting the country in recent months and promising big investments. .
Microsoft, which has more than 20,000 employees in 10 Indian cities, aims to help the local tech community develop and leverage its talent base, Nadella said at a conference in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.
He highlighted the community’s contribution to Microsoft, specifically its participation in AI projects on GitHub Copilot, the company’s AI-based generative tool for developers.
“India is the second largest country [developer community on GitHub] after the United States. In fact, it is expected to be the largest in 2028.
“We also have contributions from Indian AI projects which are second only to the United States.”
Microsoft, like its tech peers, has been under pressure to demonstrate that the billions it has invested in artificial intelligence technology will begin to generate profits.
GitHub, however, is one of its few AI bets that has generated returns. In July, Microsoft said the tool had an annual run rate of $2 billion.
Microsoft plans to train 10 million people in AI in India by 2030, Nadella said. The company trained 2.4 million people last year.
Like other top tech executives, the Indian-born Nadella is hugely popular in a country where engineering degrees are seen as a path to prosperity.
Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday to hear his keynote speech, which is part of the “Microsoft AI Tour.”
Among them was Prashant Bhanawat, a software engineer whose company uses Azure AI services, who said he waited more than three hours to enter the conference venue.
“This is an opportunity for us to see the products in development before they are launched and, obviously, to see Satya Nadella.”