Microsoft Deepens Ties to India's AI Ecosystem: Satya Nadella
The Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, announced an increased dedication to supporting India's artificial intelligence industry through substantial investments in infrastructure. He stated that Microsoft is enhancing its presence in the cloud sector and placing emphasis on providing training opportunities to millions of individuals in India to prepare them for a future dominated by artificial intelligence.
Speaking at a Microsoft event here, Nadella said, "We are very excited about investing in India to make sure that we're able to bring the best in class infrastructure here, the USD 17.5 billion investment," calling it Microsoft's largest investment in Asia.
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The Microsoft Chairman underlined the rapid expansion of the company's cloud footprint across the country.
“We're building on Azure as the world's computer and we have 70 plus data centre regions all over the world. In India, the footprint continues to grow. We now have central India, West India, South India, and we have a partnership with Jio as well," he says.
He further said that a new data centre region would become operational in 2026. "We are very excited that in 2026, we will have a new DC in south central and then the most exciting part for me is that it's 100 per cent sustainable," he said.
Nadella also emphasised the importance of digital sovereignty and cybersecurity in an era of expanding AI deployment.
"We are taking sovereignty and making sure that there's a portfolio of options for sovereignty. So you have the public cloud, you have sovereign controls in public cloud..." he noted.
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He warned that sovereignty cannot be viewed in isolation from security.
"Cyber security is a signals game--you can be sovereign and not have global intelligence--you'll be vulnerable in fact," he says, noting that Microsoft processes "trillions of daily signals" to secure platforms from Azure to Windows.
Nadella mentioned that he had a recent meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who expressed strong support for the significant investment amounting to USD 17.5 billion, specifically aimed at advancing societal well-being, economic development, and overall growth. He emphasized that this pledge builds upon the three billion dollars in investment he previously announced during his last trip.
"We are now going to skill 20 million people across India in AI skills," he said, adding that initiatives such as the government's E-Shram programme demonstrate how AI can uplift unorganised workers. He also highlighted India's growing influence in the global developer ecosystem.
"India is slated to become the number one community in the world with GitHub by 2030," he said, praising the "engagement and the type of projects that are coming out of this place, the contributions from India."
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With regard to India's pool of skilled workers, Nadella expressed that the company intends to further enhance its training initiatives. GitHub is an online platform designed for version control and collaboration, widely utilized by developers for storing, organizing, and distributing software code. It is founded upon Git, an open-source version control system, offering an intuitive graphical interface and an extensive array of collaborative features.