During the Bengaluru visit on Tuesday, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella presented a strategy to fortify India’s digital ecosystem. In addition to a new plan to train 10 million individuals in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030, Nadella announced a USD 3 billion investment to enhance Microsoft’s infrastructure in India.
During his remarks during the Microsoft AI Tour, Nadella emphasised the significance of India as a vital centre for innovation and development. During his remarks during the Microsoft AI Tour, Nadella emphasised the significance of India as a vital centre for innovation and development. “We have 60-plus regions and 300-plus data centres around the world. In India, we are excited about all the regions we have — Central India, South India, West India. So, we have a lot of regional expansion happening,” he said.
Microsoft’s single greatest investment in India, this additional USD 3 billion will be spread over the next two years and highlights India’s importance as a major market in the company’s global strategy. The money will be used to build new infrastructure and enlarge Microsoft’s current data centres in order to meet the rising demand for cloud services and AI-powered solutions.
Nadella met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to talk about Microsoft’s ongoing expansion plans in India as well as the possibilities of artificial intelligence.
“The prime minister spoke to me yesterday, and it was great to hear all of the examples of how he wants to advance AI, but it really combines the India stack, the Yojanas (policies and programs), and the entrepreneurial spirit of this nation.”
“So that’s why we feel fantastic about bringing core compute capability for the next generation AI (here),” Nadella added.
Nadella revealed the second iteration of the ADVANTA(I)GE India initiative, which aims to train 10 million people in AI-related skills by 2030 as part of Microsoft‘s commitment to empowering India’s workforce. The goal of this initiative is to close the skills gap in new technologies so that students and professionals can take advantage of AI’s promise in fields including education, healthcare, and agriculture.
Launched in 2024, the ADVANTA(I)GE India initiative trained 2.4 million Indians in its initial cycle. It was reported that 65% of the participants were female.
In order to support India’s AI and SaaS ecosystem, the company has also inked an AI Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SaaSBoomi. The goal is to have an influence on over 10,000 entrepreneurs and 5,000 startups.
