Microsoft has announced a 17.5 billion dollar investment in India’s cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure, marking its largest commitment in Asia. The company said the investment will be rolled out over four years and will support the expansion of hyperscale infrastructure, the integration of AI into national platforms, and the advancement of workforce readiness. This builds on its earlier pledge of 3 billion dollars made in January.
The announcement came after a meeting between Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where the two discussed India’s ambitions in artificial intelligence. Modi also met with other global technology leaders on the same day, including a senior executive from a major semiconductor company.
In a post on social media, Nadella thanked the Prime Minister and said that Microsoft’s investment would “help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future.”
This move comes as India accelerates its efforts to strengthen its technology ecosystem and build AI sovereignty. The country has recently attracted significant commitments, including a 15 billion dollar data centre investment pledge from a major search engine company and an 8 billion dollar commitment from a major cloud services provider.
Modi welcomed the investment and said in a post on X that “the youth of India will harness this opportunity to innovate and leverage the power of AI for a better planet.”
Microsoft said the funds will be used to scale its cloud and AI infrastructure to support customers across several regions in India. The company currently provides Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud services in multiple areas of the country.
The company also announced that it is doubling its earlier goal to train 20 million people in India in AI skills by 2030. It also aims to grow and skill its workforce of more than 22,000 employees in the country.
In addition, Microsoft will integrate its Azure AI capabilities into two major national digital platforms under the Ministry of Labour and Employment and the National Career Service.
India’s Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said the investment reflects India’s emergence as a reliable global technology partner and will accelerate the transition from digital public infrastructure to AI public infrastructure.
India continues to build its presence in advanced technology fields through public funding and partnerships. Under the India Semiconductor Mission, the country has approved ten chip projects with investments of more than 18 billion dollars. On Monday, an American chip designer signed an agreement with a Mumbai based electronics company to collaborate on chip offerings in India, including products designed for AI applications.
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