Microsoft steps up India AI game with $17.5 billion

Data centre plan Microsoft's biggest Asia bet, total India commitment in 2025 tops $20 billion

- Shouvik Das

As part of its new investment, Microsoft will train an additional 10 million people in AI skills.

(AP)

Microsoft Corp. chief executive Satya Nadella on Tuesday marked the year's second visit to India with a commitment to invest $17.5 billion in data centres, hours after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

That brings Microsoft's total India investment commitments in 2025 to $20.5 billion, including a $3 billion initiative announced during Nadella’s January visit to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and provide skilling.

The US tech giant said this was its largest investment in Asia to date, but did not specify the total capacity for its data centres in India. The plan includes a new data centre in Hyderabad, set to open by June 2026, alongside the expansion of its three existing data centres in Chennai, Mumbai, and Pune.

The company also announced the formal rollout of its sovereign cloud offerings, which cater to both government clients and private enterprises.

As part of its new investment, Microsoft will train an additional 10 million people in AI skills to bring the total number of people trained in Microsoft's AI tools to 20 million, the company said.