Tech main Microsoft will make investments $17.5 billion in India between 2026 and 2029 to speed up growth of the nation’s cloud and synthetic intelligence infrastructure, strengthen sovereign digital capabilities and scale skilling programmes. The dedication, the corporate’s largest in Asia, comes on prime of the $3 billion funding introduced in January, which Microsoft mentioned it expects to totally deploy by the tip of 2026.
The announcement adopted Chairman and Chief Government Satya Nadella’s assembly with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, forward of Microsoft’s India AI tour. Nadella later wrote on X that he had an “inspiring dialog on India’s AI alternative”. In a weblog outlining the main points of the funding, the corporate mentioned India stands at a pivotal level in its AI trajectory and is rising as a frontier market outlined by impression at scale. It added that the partnership between India and Microsoft might set new benchmarks because the nation strikes from digital public infrastructure to AI public infrastructure over the following decade.
Vaishnaw quotes in Microsoft’s launch
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, quoted within the firm’s launch, mentioned India stays dedicated to innovation constructed on belief and sovereignty. He described the funding as a marker of India’s rise as a dependable world expertise accomplice. Puneet Chandok, president for Microsoft India and South Asia, mentioned the corporate’s greater than three-decade presence in India underlines its intent to translate the nation’s AI ambitions into broad-based impression. In keeping with him, the brand new dedication will push ahead hyperscale infrastructure, sovereign-ready programs and large-scale skilling efforts.
Microsoft on the impression of this funding
Microsoft mentioned the funding will assist the growth and operations of its cloud and AI footprint throughout the nation. The corporate employs greater than 22,000 folks in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurugram, Noida and different cities, working throughout mannequin growth, engineering, and product innovation. These groups additionally function Microsoft’s hyperscale information centres and handle buyer operations nationwide.
A good portion of the brand new funding is earmarked for safe, sovereign-ready hyperscale capability. Microsoft mentioned work on the India South Central cloud area in Hyderabad is progressing and the area is anticipated to go dwell in mid-2026. It will likely be the corporate’s largest cloud area in India and can function three availability zones. The corporate can even increase its current cloud areas in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, which it mentioned will enhance resilience and cut back latency for enterprises, startups and authorities customers.
Microsoft additionally introduced new collaborations with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to combine AI capabilities into e-Shram and the Nationwide Profession Service, two massive digital public platforms.Microsoft additionally introduced new collaborations with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to combine AI capabilities into e-Shram and the Nationwide Profession Service, two massive digital public platforms.With Azure OpenAI Service, the platforms are including multilingual entry, AI-assisted job matching, predictive analytics, automated resume creation and personalised pathways to formal employment.
The corporate mentioned it has doubled its AI skilling dedication and now goals to coach 20 million Indians by 2030. Beneath its ADVANTA(I)GE India programme delivered via Microsoft Elevate, 5.6 million folks have been skilled since January 2025, with greater than 125,000 gaining employment or entrepreneurial alternatives.
Alongside infrastructure and skilling, Microsoft launched sovereign public cloud and sovereign personal cloud choices for Indian organisations. These embody prescriptive architectures, compliance and governance controls, and assist for high-performance workloads powered by Nvidia GPUs, exterior SAN integration and localised productiveness instruments. Microsoft 365 Native on Sovereign Personal Cloud is now obtainable in India, and Microsoft 365 Copilot is anticipated to start in-country information processing by the tip of 2025.
Microsoft mentioned the brand new funding underscores its dedication to assist India’s shift from digital public infrastructure to AI public infrastructure within the coming decade, including that the transition will form an AI future outlined by scale, accessibility and native impression.
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