Microsoft Pledges $17.5 Billion Investment in India to Power AI and Cloud Computing

Microsoft has committed to investing a massive $17.5 billion in India over the next four years, marking its largest ever investment in Asia. The focus of the investment will be the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Cloud Computing.

Investment Details and Goals:

• Key Pillars: The investment is aimed at supporting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambition to build a large-scale integrated AI ecosystem, concentrating on three main pillars: Scale (infrastructure), Skills, and Sovereignty (security and control over future technologies).

• Satya Nadella’s Announcement: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced the commitment after meeting Modi in New Delhi.

• Infrastructure: Microsoft's new facilities in Hyderabad are scheduled to begin operations in mid-2026 and will be the company's largest region in India.

India as a Global AI Hub:

• Market and Talent Magnet: India, with 1.45 billion people, is an increasingly attractive market and source of talent and data in machine learning and data science.

• Tech Giant Interest: Interest from AI leaders is growing, with Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei visiting recently, and Jensen Huang (Nvidia) and Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind) expected in the coming months.

• AI Service Competition: Tech companies are vying for Indian users:

  • Microsoft: Offering free access to its AI assistant "Copilot" for students.

  • OpenAI: Launching a one-year free subscription to its "ChatGPT Go" platform for all Indian users.

  • Google: Offering an 18-month subscription to its "Gemini 2.5 Pro" platform to half a billion subscribers through Reliance Jio..