MUMBAI: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday said the company plans to invest $3 billion in India on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure over the next two years.
The world’s most populous country has become a key battleground for AI in recent years, as American tech giants seek to find new users for their services and tap into new sources of talent.
In recent months, top executives including Nvidia boss Jensen Huang and Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun have visited India.
On Tuesday, Nadella said the $3 billion investment would include installing new data centers.
“India is rapidly becoming a leader in AI innovation, opening up new opportunities across the country,” Nadella said.
“The investments in infrastructure and skills we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to putting AI first in India and will help ensure that people and organizations across the country benefit widely.”
The global adoption of AI has boosted sales of Microsoft’s key cloud services, which have become the core of its business under Nadella’s leadership.
The announcement comes less than a week after Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company was on track to invest $80 billion in artificial intelligence this fiscal year.
Microsoft was on track to invest about $80 billion this year to build AI data centers, train AI models and deploy cloud-based applications around the world, according to Smith.
“The United States is poised to be at the forefront of this new technological wave, especially if it doubles down on its strengths and partners effectively internationally,” he said in an online post.
