Microsoft will invest $3 billion in India to expand its Azure cloud and AI infrastructure, as announced by CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday. This two-year initiative, the company’s largest investment in India to date, aims to enhance AI capabilities and upskill Indian workers in artificial intelligence. This investment is separate from Microsoft’s previously announced $80 billion plan for AI-enabled data centers in fiscal year 2025.
India is a critical market for major US tech companies, with many executives, including those from Nvidia and AMD, also making significant investment promises in the country. Microsoft, which already employs over 20,000 people across 10 cities in India, hopes to leverage the country’s technical expertise and talent pool. Nadella highlighted India’s strong role in Microsoft’s AI projects, particularly its contributions to GitHub Copilot, a generative AI tool for developers. India is projected to become the largest developer community on GitHub by 2028, just behind the US.
Microsoft is also focusing on training the Indian workforce, aiming to teach AI skills to 10 million people by 2030, following the 2.4 million it upskilled last year. GitHub, one of the company’s AI initiatives, has shown promising returns, with a reported annual run rate of $2 billion.
Nadella, who enjoys strong popularity in India due to his engineering background, drew hundreds to his keynote at the “Microsoft AI Tour” in Bengaluru. Attendees, such as software engineer Prashant Bhanawat, expressed excitement about gaining insights into upcoming products and meeting Nadella.
