Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, thanking him for an “inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity”, and said that he is committing US$17.5 billion investment to help build and develop the country’s “AI first future”.
Nadella said that Microsoft’s “largest investment ever in Asia” was aimed to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities “needed for India’s AI first future”.
In a post on X, the Microsoft boss wrote, “Thank you, PM@narendramodi ji, for an inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity. To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing US$17.5B—our largest investment ever in Asia—to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future. @PMOIndia”
The investment announcement comes as Microsoft Corp eyes an AI play in a country that has the largest internet population outside of China.
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PM Modi welcomed Microsoft’s investment and said that the world is optimistic about India when it comes to artificial intelligence.
He termed his discussion with Nadella “very productive”, expressing happiness over Microsoft’s investment in India.
“When it comes to AI, the world is optimistic about India! Had a very productive discussion with Mr. Satya Nadella. Happy to see India being the place where Microsoft will make its largest-ever investment in Asia,” PM Modi said in a post on X.
He further wrote, “The youth of India will harness this opportunity to innovate and leverage the power of AI for a better planet.”
This was Satya Nadella‘s second visit to India this year. Earlier in January, the Microsoft boss met with PM Modi and two days later announced that the company plans to invest $3 billion in India on artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure over the next two years.
Nadella also said that the investment would include the setting up of new data centres.
“India is rapidly becoming a leader in AI innovation, unlocking new opportunity across the country. The investments in infrastructure and skilling we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to making India AI-first, and will help ensure people and organisations across the country benefit broadly,” he had said.
In the last few years, India has emerged as a key AI battleground, as US tech giants seek to find new users for their services and tap into fresh pools of talent.
In October, Google announced that it would invest $15 billion over the next five years to set up data centre capacity for an artificial intelligence hub in India’s Andhra Pradesh. This marked one of Google’s biggest ever investments in the country.
“It’s the largest AI hub that we are going to be investing in anywhere in the world outside of the U.S.,” Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said.
The 1-gigawatt data centre campus, by Alphabet Inc., will be based in Visakhapatnam.
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