Microsoft Commits $3 Billion For India's AI And Cloud Growth While Pledging To Train 10 Million In AI Skills By 2030

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella announced a $3 billion investment in India over the next two years to enhance the company's cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

Speaking at Microsoft’s AI event in Bengaluru on Tuesday (7 January), Nadella emphasised the company’s commitment to positioning India as an AI-first nation and ensuring widespread benefits for its people and organizations.

Nadella said that India is rapidly emerging as a global leader in AI innovation, unlocking immense opportunities across the country.

As part of its efforts to strengthen AI capabilities in India, Microsoft also unveiled plans to train 10 million individuals in AI skills by 2030 through the second edition of its ADVANTA(I)GE India program.

Launched last year, the ADVANTA(I)GE India initiative initially aimed to train two million individuals in AI by 2025. 

The program has exceeded expectations, training 2.4 million people within a year. Notably, 65 per cent of the participants were women, and 74 per cent hailed from tier II and tier III cities.

Microsoft will further expand its cloud and AI infrastructure by adding to its existing three data center regions in India. A fourth data center campus is scheduled to go live by 2026, as the company focuses on building a scalable AI ecosystem to cater to the growing demands of India’s burgeoning AI startups and research community.

On the GitHub platform, Nadella highlighted India’s remarkable progress in the global developer community. He said that India is on track to have the largest developer community on GitHub by 2028 adding that the country’s contributions to generative AI projects currently stand at 30,594, second only to the United States.